


Lisa's Laboratory

by Tziput13



Category: Dexter's Laboratory, The Loud House (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Crossover, Family, Gen, Humor, character switch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-02-16 02:52:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 30,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13044993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tziput13/pseuds/Tziput13
Summary: DeeDee's last prank on Dexter results in a physical switch. It's up to them to survive in a unknown house with nine hostile kids, all while Leni and Lisa Loud find themselves in an unknown technological facility and have to figure out where they are and how to get back before someone takes advantage of the circumstances.





	1. Prelude to Chaos

Dexter may have been a genius, but he liked to think that not every part of his excellence in knowledge derived from an innate gift. Dexter considered experience as much important as pure knowledge, and that was why he carried through a good amount of experiments at once in his laboratory. He wanted to learn first-hand whenever it was possible.

And if there was something he learned about his sister DeeDee in his years of living with her, it was that no matter how long it'd take her and how many traps the little boy arranged, she'd show up at least once every day to say 'hi' to her little brother.

It was for this very reason that Dexter wasn't surprised to see the blonde pigtails slowly come into his view from above, to the point that he could no more see the wrench he was working with.

"Hi, Dexter!" DeeDee saluted as she straightened herself and came to her brother's side. "Whatcha doing?"

"I am positive you wouldn't even be able to comprehend even if I told you," Dexter replied without thinking. He kept his eyes fixed on the nut that simply didn't want to move. "Science stuff, DeeDee… as usual.  _Get out."_

"Oh, come on! You  _could_ let that thing go for a second and talk for a few moments with me!" DeeDee said offendedly, but Dexter was unperturbed. Scoffing, the blonde girl walked away, apparently leaving him alone.

Leaving him alone…

That was not the DeeDee way.

Dexter put the wrench down on the worktable and turned around. His eyes scanned the area around him, looking for signs of destruction that could only be work of his hyperactive sibling. However, neither flames of burning equipment nor the buzzing of short-circuited machines could be seen or heard. Maybe, DeeDee had for once really left his laboratory to give him some much needed peace?

Dexter immediately frowned when he saw a figure walking some distance away from him.  _Of course not,_ he thought. Where was she going anyway?

He searched his mind for what was contained in that area of the lab, and what could possibly trigger his sister to cause havoc.

' _Mmm, the bot storage could be a possible target for her, but I'm sure she would also like to break my stasis cells just by singing. Ugh… curse your love for chaos, DeeDee._

' _Thank goodness that the time machine isn't standing out that much, it'd surely be a nuisance if she ever—'_

"Ooooh! What is this thing? It says… 'time machine'?" came DeeDee's voice. "Wow! I gotta try this!"

Dexter was already running.

"DeeDee, NO! STOP RIGHT THERE!" he screamed as he rushed as fast as his tiny legs let him run.  _Where's my exoskeleton when I need it?!_

"Oh, relax Dexter, I  _just_  want to turn it on! I think I've already used it once even if I don't remember exactly how!" DeeDee said, oblivious to her brother's urgency. She promptly started to press random buttons on the time machine's control panel.

Yes, it was true that she had already time travelled once by accident, and since then Dexter had made sure to make the time machine DeeDee-proof, with additional Plexiglas sheets and multiple commands needed to activate it. It wasn't, however, fool-proof to her sister attempts at turning it on by guessing the right key sequence… and Dexter  _knew_ he had to stop her before she unknowingly sent a command they both wouldn't have liked.

"DEEDEE!" Dexter shouted once more his sister's name. "You don't know what you're doing! HALT!"

DeeDee chuckled as she started using both hands to press buttons. The machine buzzed to life, but emitting worrying noises and whirs. "It's on, but it's not opening! How about this…?"

"FOR THE LOVE OF EINSTEIN…!" Dexter was only five meters away now. If only he had been a little faster in realizing the danger!

DeeDee pressed the last button, and the time machine suddenly was filled by a bright red, almost blinding light.

" _EMERGENCY! OVERUSE OF POWER DETECTED IN SECTOR B2!"_ came the computer's voice.  _"SYSTEM OVERLOAD!"_

DeeDee might not have been the brightest tool in the shed, but years of incursions in her brother's lab along with the various adventures the two of them had ended up in had taught her what the limit between amusing chaos and serious danger was. At first, the girl had smiled, content to have successfully turned on the contraption, but then she heard the distinct cracking of glass, and the inner Plexigas sheet inside the machine broke into a million pieces.

She unconsciously made a step back. "Uuh… Dexter… is that normal or—?" she began, only to be interrupted by the computer.  _"OVERLOAD IS DECLARED UNCONTROLLABLE! EVACUATION IS ADVISED!"_

"It's not  _normal!"_ Dexter shouted as he finally reached his sister's side, panting. "DeeDee, you-you fool! You've taken the entirety of the energy generators of the laboratory and made them power up the time machine  _all together!"_

DeeDee failed to see how whatever her brother had said could cause such a fuss, but she simply stopped thinking about it when the second Plexigas protection was shattered as well. The red light inside the time machine was now separated by them only by the last protective panel… and soon, creaks started to appear on the last sheet as well.

"Well, then do something! Fix it!" DeeDee exclaimed.

Dexter didn't answer, nor did he move to attempt a desperate counter-measure. He was pretty sure he wouldn't even have made it to the time machine's control panel, let alone any other place in the laboratory. He simply stared at the time machine as the creaks continued to grow in number.

"Dexter? Dexter?!" DeeDee squealed in fright.

" _It's too late,"_  he simply informed, before the time machine blew up on the spot. The red light shot away in every direction, and before anyone of the two siblings could realize it, they were ran over by the wave.

It took it just one second to happen. The red light was already no more and, surprisingly, the laboratory was still in one piece. Except for the smoking remains of the time machine, everything was the same.

"The overload has foun- _*BZZ*-_ way to release itself," the computer's voice began its report between the interferences. "No further damage is to be _-*BZZ*-_ ported apart from the time machine, which has been annihilated by the blast. Readings suggest that the time machine has emit- _*BZZ*-_ unknown kind of electromagnetic wave, incapable to damage electronics. What is the next course of action, Dexter?"

…

"Dexter?"

No answer came. Dexter and DeeDee were no more in the former's laboratory.

* * *

Dexter groaned. What he had just felt could only be described as a trip into the depths of his sister's room… he had the feeling that most of his skin was burning, even though he was sure he was not being consumed by flames at the moment.

' _What did just happen? I remember… the time machine… DeeDee… oh, this is not good…'_

He first had to take a look where he was. It was evident that the time machine had somehow transported him and, he guessed, his sister away from his laboratory, but where he was remained a complete mystery for now. They could've been transported back to the Dinosaur's era or once again in the future, perhaps even farther than his previous trips. The overcharge may have caused the time machine to transport them to a new dimension for all he knew… the possibilities were endless, and Dexter had to admit he was a little scared to discover what was waiting for him in this place.

When he opened his eyes, though, the scene that greeted him was pretty normal, if he had to be honest.

Dexter shook his head, in an attempt to free his thoughts, and he stood up from the ground, looking around. He was in a room… a bedroom, it seemed. There was a baby crib along with the only bed, so Dexter guessed that this couldn't be his house: he knew for sure that him and DeeDee had never shared a room, not even when they were babies.

He walked towards the baby crib, evading the various toys that littered the floor, and inspected the object. The crib was a little too high, so Dexter for the moment had no way to see if it was occupied or not.

"That's a standardized crib, I'd say," the boy genius said to himself as he turned around. "I suppose who's the other occupant of this room must not be that far from the baby's age, and…"

Dexter's mouth was left open as he finally got a glance of the far side of the room, where a full set of chemist instruments, technology contraptions and various other stuff lay in wait. Dexter rushed to it and climbed over the chair, starting to examine the objects one by one.

"Sodium bicarbonate, sulphuric acid and xenon trioxide?" he read, incredulous. "This… this cannot be the work of whoever sleeps in that baby crib. But who?" He looked at the bed… no adult would have been able to sleep on such a small piece of furniture. "Who could work with this kind of knowledge?"

He hopped down and walked towards the big wardrobe. "It doesn't make sense. One of the parents of these two children must be a scientist, there's no other explanation!" he hypothesized before opening the shutters out, revealing the contents.

Before him there were just two lines of clothing. The one at the bottom was completely full of diapers, and Dexter immediately thought that they belonged to the toddler who most probably slept inside the crib. The same couldn't be said, though, for the various cloths lined above the lower level: tiny shirts, vests and pants along with, much to Dexter's confusion, lab coats, all accurately sized for the use of a child who might have been a little but not too much younger than Dexter himself.

What shocked the boy, though, was the quantity of technology trash that was stuffed above the cloths. He only needed a glimpse to realize the complexity of them and that there was no way a kid could be responsible for their creation.

Unless it was another genius like him.

Dexter stepped away from the wardrobe, shaking his head. He was getting out of track! He still needed to understand where he was… in the unlucky case that the time machine had just sent him to another dimension, he could ask this apparent genius for assistance to find a way back, but he first had to locate if he really was in another version of reality, or he had simply been sent to another time… if not timeline.

"Focus, Dexter! I am still yet to understand the gravity of this situation!" he thought out-loud. "There must be some way to make sure I'm still in the same timeline or plane of reality…"

He noticed a time watch located right above the desk with the scientific gadgets, and he took note of how the time and date were just a few minutes late compared to his last check back before the incident.  _No time travel, then… let's hope that's the end of it._

Dexter finally decided to continue his investigation out of the room. He marched up to the door on the other side, ignoring the chalkboard filled with integrals and differential equations, and prepared himself to straight his back in order to reach the doorknob.

But his foot stomped over something before he could so, and Dexter heard the distinct noise of crunching paper. He raised his boot and inquisitively picked up what he had not noticed before.

It was a simple drawing paper sheet, and over it there was a fresh pastel drawing, a clear result of a baby's first artistic spurs. Dexter gave a glance to the crib which was not to his right side before continuing to examine the paper: the baby was obviously still very young and deciphering the forms would have been very difficult for most people.

But Dexter was a boy genius, and even baby-talk wasn't a mystery to him. What he saw were the crude silhouettes of what could only be described as human forms. There were lots of them though… he mentally counted them and reached the number of thirteen.

 _Why would a baby draw a group of thirteen people if there are only two siblings here?_ Dexter thought. Perhaps it was a party of sorts? But the figures had all different heights and given the higher size of a couple of them he guessed that those were the parents and the others were younger than them. Maybe a family reunion with a lot of cousins?

Dexter wanted to see through all of this. He placed the drawing into the pocket of his lab coat and made a step forward, only to be startled by the sudden opening of the door.

"HI, DEXTER!" DeeDee greeted, marching into the room. "I heard you talking! How's it doing?"

Dexter was too much stunned to say something coherent at first. "Dee… DeeDee... what… how…?"

"Oh, remember that time machine thingy? Guess what, it didn't do anything bad!" DeeDee explained happily as she walked around the room Dexter had been inspecting. "I've found myself in this room I've never seen before in my life, but you had to see it! It was full of stuff I didn't even know they existed! Make-up sets, dresses of all types—everything!"

"Wait, wait, hold it! You were in another room in this house? Has anyone seen you?" Dexter demanded.

"Not even a fly, Dex! The other doors are all closed, by the way!" DeeDee said as she gave a glance to the chalkboard. "Geez, how long have you been here Dexter? You sure have already settled yourself!"

"That's not mine! It's… I don't know, I'm still trying to figure out where we are," Dexter replied.

"Hey, it's not that difficult!" DeeDee turned around and smiled at him. "We're in another house!"

"Thank you very much, DeeDee, but I already knew that," Dexter said coldly.

"But I'm sure you don't know of the family living here, do you?" DeeDee asked.

"No, of course, we just got here…" Dexter answered, tilting his head. What did she mean with that?

"Well, I do!" DeeDee exclaimed. "Not personally of course, but come with me!"

"Hey, wait, DeeDee! Quiet!" Dexter protested, but his sister acted like he didn't hear anything as she grabbed hold of him and pulled him out of the room. Dexter just had the time to take a look at the hallway he was in before he was placed right in front of a wall. DeeDee took him by his labcoat and lifted him up. "Look at the photo, Dexter!"

Dexter would really have liked to tell her sister off, but shouting at the moment wasn't an option: it was already a miracle someone had not heard their footsteps of DeeDee's loud talking yet, so he resorted to simply satisfy her desire and get it over with. He looked… and once again, he was astonished by what he saw.

Inside the portrait stood the figures of thirteen people: two adults, one boy and ten girls. Dexter couldn't deny it: they were the same of the drawing he had found back in the room… those were the current occupants of the house.

Dexter had a bad feeling about it all. "DeeDee, please… put me down and let's get back to the baby's room," Dexter whispered.

"Why?" DeeDee talked without even trying to tone down her voice. "Don't you want to get to know who's living here?"

"All in due time, but for now that'll have to wait, like after we leave this place undiscovered! Put me down!"

DeeDee turned his brother around and grinned. "Aww, quit it, Dex! It's not the time to be your usual social-evasive type! What could they even do to-…"

"Lola… did you hear something?"

The voice came from the door behind them, on the far-left corner of the corridor.

"I did! WHO'S THERE?!" another voice shouted. The tone was so threatening that DeeDee immediately let Dexter fall down. The boy quickly stood back to his feet and pushed his sister away, "Get moving! QUICK!"

They barely managed to get back to the baby's room and shut the door behind them before the heard the other door being slammed open. "I SAID WHO'S THERE?!" the voice repeated.

"If there was anyone here, they've left for sure… you must've scared them off, with that tone of yours."

"Cut it out, Lana. I feel that they're still here… I can  _smell_  them…"

"Smell? What are you, a hound of what? And people tell me I'm the one who acts like an animal."

"Hush!"

Dexter and DeeDee waited, looking at each other in fright. A couple of footsteps were heard, then there was a knock on their door.

"Lisa? Are you still there?"

DeeDee opened her mouth to speak, but Dexter placed his glove on her mouth before she could emit any sound.

"Lisa? Say something or I'm breaking down this door!"

"She's probably working, maybe she can't hear you… or she doesn't want to."

"She has to! LISA! OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

Dexter started munching on the tip of his gloves in panic. They had to make the two girls go away… but how… how?

" _Ahem… I'm so sorry! I didn't hear you! I'm just doing my thing, carry on!"_ Dexter said in the most ridiculous impression of a four-year old girl. DeeDee brought a hand to her forehead, exasperated. "I was  _going_ to do it earlier, dummy! At least I have the right voice!" she whispered.

"You didn't know that she's a child prodigy!" Dexter whispered back. "Let me do the talking!  _I was working on this… on the chemical reaction yield of a couple of new compounds I've recently obtained. I ask, therefore, for patience and to be left alone since I need peace and quiet!"_

Dexter prayed that his imitation would work. He was sure that he would have fooled them only by using a few uncommon words… and to be fair, he was much nearer to his target that he even knew. The accent could even have worked to his own favour.

Too bad he didn't know of the peculiar lisp.

"THERE'S SOMEONE IN LISA AND LILY'S ROOM!" they heard the shouts of Lola and Lana go through the walls and reverberate around the entire house. And soon they heard the approaching horde as it answered to the call.

"What did you just say? Someone  _who?"_

"I don't know! But he closed himself – or herself – inside! I'm sure that was not Lisa talking!"

"What's all the fuss about?"

"Are you fully sure? It's no mystery that Lisa has produced every kind of disgusting broth – maybe she modified her own voice!"

"Lisa, come on, open the door, we don't have time for this! I gotta finish my comic book!"

DeeDee grinned. "Now it's my turn!" she uttered and before Dexter could stop her, she said with her most fluent, and exaggerated, imitation of a four-year-old,  _"Oh, excuse me, I waz just a little distracted! I am tired really, so would you petty pleaze let me rest for a little while?"_

This time it was Dexter's turn to bring a hand to his forehead. "Oh, that was just  _perfect…"_

From the other side, for a few seconds, it was silence. Then, a not well-defined amount of hands started to bang on the door.

"OPEN THE DOOR!"

"LET US IN, YOU MANIACS!"

"LISA! ARE YOU IN THERE?! LILY!"

"What is going on – WHAT IN THE…!? WHO'S BEEN IN MY ROOM?!"

"Someone has broken into the house! They closed themselves in Lisa's room!"

"GET THIS DOOR OPEN NOW OR YOU'RE GONNA REGRET IT!"

"Guys, I…  _*off*…_ I can't find Lisa, nor Lily!"

"They've captured them!"

"We need more strength! Where's Leni when you need her?! LENI! COME HERE, WE NEED YOUR ARMS HERE!"

"OPEN. THE. DANG. DOOR!"

"Ooh, you better  _open_ yourself to our request!"

A collective groan was heard, but the banging and the angry shouts continued as the mob outside continue to try to burst into the room.

DeeDee and Dexter were with their backs on the door, trying to pin it where it was and fighting against the collective strength of nine angered sisters and brother. "Well, congratulations DeeDee for messing everything up once again!"

"What? It was you who tried to imitate a girl's voice in the first place! Did you really think they would buy that?"

"Excuse me if I try to think over what I do! Something that you apparently do not, since that was all  _but_ what a little girl like the one in the photo would speak like!"

"Oh, yeah?! How about you actually try to care for what I do instead of pretending I don't exist all the time? Maybe this wouldn't have happened if you did!"

"How about you stop annihilating half of my lab everytime you SHOW UP!?"

"…poo-poo?"

Dexter and DeeDee froze in their place and slowly turned their heads. There was a baby looking at them from the baby crib with half-closed eyes. And she looked vexed.

' _Oh, no, no!'_

"Nice baby! Quiet, quiet! We won't hurt you!" Dexter tried to wave at her, but her face contorted as she struggled to prepare her vocal cords.

"Hey, look at me, look at me!" DeeDee called as she left Dexter alone, ignoring his protests. "I'm here! I'm a girl! I'm not a monster, and I'm here for  _you!"_ the blonde chanted, dancing all around in front of the baby's face, trying to use the little experience she remembered since Dexter's early days.

It was a pity that she was a little rusty.

" _WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

" _LILY!"_ the voices came all together from behind the door. The banging stopped.

"THAT'S IT!  _Get out of the way!"_  one voice commanded.

"LYNN, WAIT!"

"YYAAAAAAAH!"

Dexter barely had the time to throw himself away before a force he'd have quantified as the one of a tsunami crashed into the door, sending the wooden object flying to the other side of the room, knocking the chalkboard down and ending its flight into the open window. It remained stuck there, halfway out of the room.

The boy turned around just in time to see the horde coming through. He barely managed to yelp a frightened  _'Mommy!'_ before he and DeeDee were overrun.

* * *

When Lisa Loud opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of an indefinite blur in place of her room. Instinctively, the four-year-old reached out for her glasses, but her hands quickly found out that there was nothing resting on her nose.

' _Well, that is good news from a certain point of view… it means that the neurons of my optical cortex didn't just die out. Unfortunately, the headache still hurts…'_

She slowly stood up, trying to feel if there was anything else wrong with her. She couldn't look at her surroundings, but even without her glasses she could make out the generic size and colours of the place she had ended up in… and it definitely was too big and too blue to be her own room. Lisa pinched her nose while trying to remember what she was doing. She had a very fresh memory of a particularly complex equation she was very close to solve, then there was… annoyance. Someone had been bothering her. Who could—

"Oh, hi, Lisa!"

…never mind.

Lisa turned around and crossed her hands, looking at the approaching sister with her usual neutral stare. Not that Leni was able to discern sarcasm or anything like that, usually, but Lisa wasn't going to act any different with her than she did with any of her siblings. "Hello, Leni," she said informally. "Before I try to approximate what our current location is, I'd like you to tell me if you've found my glasses lying around here."

"Well, I don't know why you want to exterminate something, but about your glasses… I have them right here! Can't really miss them, the floor of this lab is perfectly clean anyway!" Leni happily informed before handing out the glasses. Lisa was going to take them when realization suddenly hit her. "Wait. Have you just pronounced the word 'lab'? As if, 'laboratory'?"

"Of course, silly! It's your lab, after all, isn't it? I didn't know you needed an explosion to get here, though."

Lisa snatched the glasses. "Leni, I have no laboratory but the ones the university lets me-…" she was unable to complete her sentence. In a very rare occurrence, Lisa Loud did nothing else but gape at the spectacle in utter amazement.

"Whoa…"

"What do you mean no lab? If it wasn't a sudden secret passage with added explosion that got us out of your room, then what happened?" Leni wondered.

"I… I may have a few hypotheses that may or may not be true, but one thing is for sure, older sister," Lisa said. She continued to stare at the various contraptions that filled the enormous lab, unable to comprehend how was anyone able to put so much technological and science marvels all in one place.

"We're no more home."


	2. Contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the lack of updates since December. I've not been able to bring this story forward for various reasons I'm not going to list here, and I probably should've waited before posting the first chapter until I had more time to dedicate to this one. I'm sorry about that: I will try my best to keep the next updates as much regular as possible—target is at least one per month. This is going to have only a few chapters in any case, so hopefully I will be able to finish soon.

Dexter had once been abducted and interrogated by a mad scientist in the past… so he  _should_ have been used to this.

Therefore, why was he feeling very uncomfortable right then, sweating profusely? After all, the current situation differed from the past one only for the fact that there was a white-haired boy a bit older than him doing the questioning.

Oh… him and the other nine girls behind him, of course. All looking like they wanted to skin him alive.

"Spill the beans!" Lincoln demanded. "What were you doing in our home?"

"I'm not telling anyone," Dexter replied, using the little courage left in him. "Especially not you, sheepface."

Lincoln simply scoffed, untouched by the poor insult. Lori spoke up from behind him: "You better start talking soon, twerp, or I might hand the questioning to Lynn… who, we all know, is a lot more physical than Lincoln in doing things."

Lynn cracked her knuckles, grinning to the tied-up boy, and Dexter couldn't help gulping. At least the madman hidden in the restaurant back then granted him a choice… these mad kids looked more willing to have his head rather than an answer!

"Now, now, there's no need to resort to violence… I'm sure we can all reach an agreement…" Dexter quickly said, trying to ease the sportsgirl. But Lynn snorted at his remark, moving towards him and putting a hand over his head, as if to measure him before proceeding with her idea of 'questioning'. He could only freeze, too much afraid to react.

"You'll need to start tweeting soon, dude," Luna warned, "or we might go and get the answers we need anyway."

"Oh, for crying out loud!"

The Louds suddenly shifted their attention away from Dexter. He was still in the room that was, apparently, the bedroom of so-called Lisa and Lily Loud, tied up to a chair and unable to move anything but his head. When the family's glares went away from him, along with the flashlight that had been blinding him up until that moment thanks to the black-haired girl, Dexter conceded himself a moment to recover his breath.

' _Thanks, DeeDee… I can't believe I'm thinking this, but I owe you one.'_

"We've already told you… I mean,  _I_ already told you everything you want! We were just hanging out and had a tiny little incident with one of my little brother's things, we didn't mean to do anything bad!" DeeDee was tied up to a second chair right on Dexter's side and, apparently, she was as much irritated as Dexter by it.

"How can you expect us to accept  _that?_ We've never seen you before in our lives, and you think we'll believe some baloney about a time-travelling machine?!" Lori said.

"Well, duh! We are your guests! Sort of."

Dexter would have facepalmed if he didn't have his hands blocked on his back.

"I don't believe it works that way, first, because you didn't ask to come in first, and second, because you tried to fool us into thinking there was nothing wrong to begin with. What was the deal with the imitation game you tried to pull off, anyway?" Lincoln inquired.

"I'd like to see you in our shoes, with nine raging living beings pounding on the only protection between you and them!" Dexter blurted out. "For all I knew, you were wild beasts with unknown diet habits! We had to improvise!"

"Well, it didn't work for sure. I've seen more believable imitations from comedians around the web, and those were not even supposed to be true to the original," Luan said.

"That is beyond the point. You still didn't answer the question! What did you want to do in our house?" Lori's tone raised in pitch. "I won't accept 'hanging out' and 'time machine' as an answer again!"

In that moment, Dexter realized that lying and trying to trick the kids that had captured them wasn't going to work. Too bad DeeDee had already told them the truth… somehow. Eventually, he decided that he at least could try to confirm what had been said by her.

"What has been said by DeeDee is true," he admitted, his face a mask of defeat. "Even if she wasn't just 'hanging out', she has indeed activated a time-machine of mine… against my will, I'd add."

Dexter was sure DeeDee was sticking out her tongue at him, but he pretended she didn't exist and continued his speech. "The time-machine overloaded and ended up releasing a discharge of some sort of which I am still trying to understand the properties. And, you know, doing that without the proper tools is far from being easy. What I am sure about is that it did transport us away from my laboratory, somewhere that happened to be your humble abode. Now we're stuck in a couple of chairs, unable to decide whether this is even another plane of reality or not, while a bunch of bratty kids shout in our ears, so would you kindly be so helpful to shut it and let us free, thus letting us come back to the place from which we've been unwillingly taken away?"

The Louds looked at Dexter for a few seconds with neutral stares. "Wow… for a second I thought Lisa actually turned herself into a boy…" Lynn said.

The other siblings hummed, agreeing with her remark. "But no, she has not," Luan replied, "even though I'd admit they're almost equal… as two neutrons in a helium atom! Ahahah, get it?!"

Everybody groaned, Dexter included. "I got that, and it's not funny!" he muttered, but his protests went ignored.

"Even if we accepted their little tale as true, that still doesn't explain where Lisa and Leni are. I'm pretty sure Lisa wasn't going to leave this weekend, she had been babbling all week about an experiment of hers that needed extra time and quiet," Lana said.

"And last time I saw her, Leni was busy organizing her own wardrobe in our room… and we all know she wasn't going to finish doing that soon," Lori added.

"Thus, all of this means one thing:  _wrong answer!"_  Lola shouted. She leaned over Dexter, her eyes fired up. "So cut the show and give us the truth! Where are our sisters, four-eyes?!"

"Isn't that offensive to Lisa as well? Not to mention Lincoln's friend," Lana noted.

"Cut it out, Lana, I'm trying to keep the culprit tense here!" Lola said, her gaze never leaving Dexter's face. "Then? Where are they?"

"I… you're making me nervous!" Dexter lamented. "I can't think straight if you don't give me space. And I don't know! Maybe some type of tear in the space-time continuum has somehow caused the disappearance of your sisters as well as our departure. Maybe a swap of positions has… oh… oh no, my laboratory!"

Lola was shoved away, but unfortunately for Dexter she was replaced by Lynn. "Now you listen here, nerd!"

"Hey!" Lincoln protested, but of course Lynn ignored him.

"You have five seconds to give us an answer, and if by the time those have passed you haven't given us a good enough one, you're going to get a good taste of a Loud-style beating.  _One!"_

"Wait, wait, wait!"

"Ooh… that's going to be fun!"

"DEEDEE!"

" _Two!"_

"I told you everything I could! What do you even want to hear from me now?!"

"Poo-poo!"

" _Three!"_

"Lucky me. I just needed a couple of volunteers for my sarcophagus collection…"

"What?! And stop pointing that flashlight into my eyes! I can't think!"

" _Four!"_

Dexter tried to come up with something, but his mind was too befuddled to work properly and all he managed to do was starting to babble. "Wait, I-I can do things! I can show you I am the kind of kid able to create a time machine! I can fix this!"

Lynn stopped counting and studied Dexter with half-closed eyes. "Fix?"

"Of course. I am Dexter, boy genius, after all. I can do everything!" Dexter's ego suddenly made him forget about the fact he was in a hostage situation. "You just have to get me a couple of tools and I'll show you what I am capable of, while also trying to find a way to get your sisters back… and hopefully stop them from wrecking my laboratory."

Lynn moved away from him, staring him down, then the Louds regrouped and started to mutter with each other. "Wow, I must admit, that was one thing!" DeeDee commented cheerfully. "Good call, Dex!"

"Good call!? I thought you were helping me for a moment, and then you say you were going to enjoy watching me being beaten up?!"

"Well, they didn't say they were doing to do the same with me. Anyway, that's the past! I think they're starting to like you a little more!"

Once again, Dexter cursed the fact he couldn't bring a palm to his forehead. "I'm just going to let that slide… we have to keep the focus on our current task. These idiots have no idea who they're messing with… but DeeDee, just this once, try to work with me and don't mess up."

DeeDee grinned and nodded vigorously, something that made Dexter less than confident in her, but before he could reprimand her the Louds were over them again.

"Okay, we've agreed to give you a chance, but know that we'll keep you under our watch and if you try anything funny…" Lori announced.

Lynn cracked her knuckles again, Lola fixed her hair and Lincoln punched his own palm. Then, Lincoln yelped. "Ouchie! Too strong."

"Leave the beating to the professionals, Linky," Lola said, unimpressed by her brother's display.

Lincoln pouted, but afterwards every single Loud sibling stared straight at Dexter menacingly.

"I know you get the idea, dude," Luna said.

Dexter faked a frightened reaction… but deep down, the boy genius was grinning and plotting.

' _Fools.'_

* * *

He had always loved to build, and that continued to be true even under the constant gaze of the Loud kids, who watched every his every move. Yet, Dexter continued to work unperturbed, using the few tools and materials that were hidden around the room to do his magic. He had to admit, despite the lack of a proper laboratory and professional materials, the kid who lived there had to be pretty smart. He was impressed by the quality of a few instruments and essays he had briefly seen being while rummaging through the wardrobes along with DeeDee.

Well, impressed, but of course she was still _far_ from being a genius like  _he_ was, of course.

"How much time do you still need?" Lynn suddenly demanded. "I'm already getting bored here."

"I'm not surprised by how lacking your patience is," Dexter retorted, "but for your information, this is not a process that can be done in little time, and definitely not with the scarce materials found here. A scanner able to search this dimension, or planet, or wherever we are, can't be created out of thin air."

"I'm still trying to figure out what are you talking about… but I hope you're doing what's needed to get Lisa and Leni back…" Luna said.

"And we won't wait forever, so hurry up before we decide your time's up, twerp," Lori declared. Dexter simply scoffed.

"DeeDee, get me a few metal sheets from the piece of furniture on my right, second drawer starting from the upper one. We're almost done."

DeeDee moved to execute the order, followed by Lana and Lola as if they were her own shadow. She started to navigate through the drawers below the table where Dexter was working, making a lot of noise, and after thirty seconds Dexter decided that his sister had, once again, failed to understand him.

"DeeDee… the shiny things?"

"Oooh!" DeeDee opened one of the drawers and triumphantly lifted a bunch of metallic sheets. "Why didn't you say so before?"

"Just… give me those," Dexter grunted, motioning her to deposit the thing to the side of the contraption he was working on.

The Louds exchanged a glance, with Lucy giving voice to their thoughts. "Well, that's odd."

"It almost looks like one of those Ace Savvy comics, where Ace has to face alternate versions of himself and One-eyed Jack," Lincoln noted thoughtfully.

"No matter. They still have to tell us what happened to Lisa and Leni, no matter how similar they are to them. And they better have something to tell us soon…" Lori said.

"Guh, Poo!" Lily approved, despite not probably having understood a word of what was being said.

"It is done, at last!"

The Louds suddenly turned towards Dexter, who moved aside to let them stare at his latest creation… a metal box.

"Are you kidding?!" Lynn blurted out.

"If that's a joke, it's not funny!" Luan said, frowning.

"Do not worry, ladies and gentle… man!" Dexter said, a fake grin on his face. "This is simply the solution to all of our problems, and it only needs to be turned on! So, behold!"

He nodded at DeeDee, who exhibited herself into her biggest smile before planting a finger into a minuscule button placed on one of the sides of the box. Immediately after, it started to whir into life.

Then, it suddenly expanded.

A few of the Loud sisters yelped in surprise as the box's sheets separated from each other and the contraption inside twirled and whirred, following unknown instructions as it started to take the form of a humanoid shape. Even DeeDee looked at the thing in surprise.

"Behold… maybe not by greatest invention yet, but surely one of my greatest feats: a robot! Made with far less resources than one would normally need!"

"A… a  _robot?!"_ Lori's initial surprise turned into anger. "You lied to us, you little—! I'm going to turn you into a human pretzel!"

"Is that so? This is no normal robot, woman!" Dexter looked more confident than ever, a sight that made even Lori reconsider her idea. The robot lacked any type of cover, sans for the head, hands and feet, which were identified by the metal sheets of the original box. The internal machinery was fully visible, making it look like something that had been deprived of its own skin… more menacing than ever.

Finally, DeeDee experience kicked in, and she realized what Dexter was going to do. "Dexter, are you sure this is—?" she began.

Of course, he didn't even hear her.

"Cheap-bot #1!  _Attack!"_

Thus, the Loud House fell into chaos.

* * *

"I can't believe it…"

Lisa took off her glasses and cleaned them a little with the sleeve of her shirt. She had done so various times since her arrival in the unknown facility, but she couldn't help it. When she put them back on, she had once again to accept the fact that her eyes weren't deceiving her.

A huge glass container stood in front of her, supported by a metallic stalk below and another support bar above. It towered over her, even without accounting for her short height, and the inside was filled with an ominous-looking liquid. Among the liquid substance floated particles that every now and then reflected the artificial light that kept the laboratory from falling into darkness, as if they were pulsing with such light.

Lisa had no clue what those particles were, but she understood that the container ha to be a stasis cell of sorts, built to keep them under a safe environment… and maybe even the other way around. Ideas raced in her mind as she tried to guess what the deal was with the highly complex contraption, and she was barely able to contain her excitement.

And that was just one part! More stasis cells were waiting to the right and the left of the one she was observing right now. And Lisa knew that she just had to turn around to find another area filled with even more marvellous examples of technological development and scientific discoveries. There was only one source of annoyance for her at the moment that ruined her discoveries a little: the almost complete lack of any type of signals, written explanations, instruction labels and so on around here.

There  _had_ to be a place around where whoever was responsible of it brainstormed ideas for the next project on paper, or maybe there was an informatic interface where she could navigate through all the information concerning the contents of the lab. But even so, she had yet to find anything.

"This place is sure weird Lisa… are you sure there is no exit around here? I'm beginning to get a little tired of the dry air here… uh, maybe this thing will help us? This big, red button here… it could open up a way out!"

Oh, yes, talking about things that were annoying her… there was also Leni, of course.

"Hands off that button, Leni!" Lisa immediately called out, and Leni retracted her hand before she could push the button and probably release the contents of the stasis cell located right above her. Lisa sighed in relief, then she started to walk towards her as she talked. "I am not fully sure about what that trigger activates, Leni, but I can assure you it's not a good idea to risk it and that it is not going to help you."

"But if it's that so, how can we get out?" Leni replied, her eyes looking around. "I don't like it here that much… it's so silent. It looks like it's abandoned."

"Don't be silly. This is clearly an active workplace, and besides it's just the perfect atmosphere for scientific research. Are you not excited by it? Whoever works here had a lot of projects going on at the same time, Leni! Do you have any idea of the amount of scientific discoveries that could be made here?"

"But do you know where we are exactly?" Leni pressed on, a little because she was worried, a little because she had understood half of what her sister had said.

"Mmph. That is of minor importance – I'm sure we'll become aware of that soon… at least, as soon as I find out more about the features of this laboratory," Lisa said. She gave a glance to Leni, who continued to turn her head around in search of a window that didn't exist, and the image of her causing damage to either herself or the machines appeared in her mind.

She sighed as she understood what needed to be done. "Come on, Leni, follow me. We do have a common goal at the moment: finding more about this place."

Leni smiled, happy to hear that Lisa wanted to help her out, and she followed her as she began to walk away from the stasis cells' area. Together, the two of them quietly moved through the different sector the lab was divided in, as Lisa continued to scan her surroundings in search of anything that could host information while trying to not lose her focus everytime a new device of unknown properties appeared in her line of sight.

"Lisa…" Leni said. Her voice sounded rather worried by then. "Are you sure this is a science laboratory? Where you only do science stuff?"

"Yes, it is," Lisa answered, annoyed by the question since it had derailed her thoughts. "Why would you even ask that?"

"Well…" Leni continued, "I'm not a science wiz, but that don't look much science-ish to me…"

"What are you talking abo-oooh…" Lisa turned towards Leni and followed her gaze until she found out what she was looking at. She thought most of the machines lying in the laboratory were very big, but the  _thing_ that was standing away from her and Leni was  _enormous._

"Uhh…" Lisa tried to think of something to say that would justify the existence of a giant robot, with visible weapon compartments all over its body, inside the laboratory. "…maybe it's a government property?"

Leni wasn't convinced. "I don't know, Lisa, but I don't even feel like we're supposed to be here. Where is everyone?"

"I… don't know…" Lisa answered. Her mind was still trying to wrap itself around the fact that the marvels created by whoever was behind the laboratory embraced even aspects of combat. There was no doubt about it, that was no robot made for exploration or assistance – she had already seen a stock of human-sized inactive bots beforehand anyway… what was the deal with the people who ran this facility? Why would they even keep a giant robot here?

Deep down, she hoped that Leni's hunch about them not being welcome here was just a hunch.

Her thoughts had to be put aside when an alarm suddenly blared around them.  _"Alert!"_ an electronic voice recited,  _"Reported unidentified organic beings in Sector 4A! Failure in identifying their identity – intruder protocol initiated!"_

The first reaction of Lisa wasn't an immediate, calculated answer to the even unfolding. All she managed to do was simply letting out an exclamation of distress.

"Dang it."

The lights started to change colour repeatedly over time, from their neutral white to a profound red, and the alarms resonated in the two kids' ear, just loud enough to be annoying. Leni gradually became more and more nervous, as the alarms didn't give any sign of turning down. "Lisa! What are we supposed to do now?"

"I… I'm sure there's just been a huge misunderstanding here, we just have to meet with the head of this facility and explain our current predicament!"

"Are you sure? And why does this place have a head?"

Lisa groaned. "I mean the 'big guy' behind the scenes, Leni! We just have to tell him who we are and that we mean no harm!"

The alarm suddenly stopped.

Lisa and Leni looked around them, confused by the sudden interruption, but soon they started to hear the noise of machines being turned on. Leni noticed that something was coming towards them, though she couldn't exactly understand what from the distance.

"Lisa… I think someone's coming here," Leni said.

"Are you positive about that?" Lisa requested confirmation, not willing to divert her eyes away from her own side. She was basically back to back with Leni, or to be specific her legs, and by then she was expecting everything.

"I… I think so," Leni confirmed. She narrowed her eyes, trying to focus. "They… it's two of them…"

"…and?"

"They're… flying towards us with rockets and huge mechanical arms with pincers at the end!"

Lisa's eyes widened in shock. She wasn't sure what to be more shocked about – Leni making an accurate description or the fact they were going to be attacked.

" _WHAT?!"_

* * *

One-hundred seconds later, Leni and Lisa were in the hands of the two hoverbots sent to retrieve them. With some convincing, Lisa had managed to get Leni to calm down and not start to run away screaming in fright, since she had no idea how the bots were programmed to react to such a display. In her opinion, their best bet was to let the machines catch them, since the lack of alarms showed they were no more in danger… for now.

Her hypothesis had proved true, as the hoverbots caught hold of the both of them with some care… at least, what care they were able to do with the pincers they had for hands. Lisa continued to talk in order to reassure her sister, who wasn't exactly happy to be carried around by a metallic monstrosity, and even if she wasn't sure whether she was understanding her explanations about how the hoverbots had no reason to hurt them, her words had managed to keep her quiet.

The journey towards their next destination, therefore, went without further incidents. Lisa and Leni were laid on the floor by the hoverbots, which afterwards floated idly in wait.

"Well, here we ar-off!" Lisa wasn't able to complete her sentence that Leni literally leapt at her and hugged her tightly, lifting her from the floor.

"Ooh… okay, Leni, we're both in perfect condition now…" Lisa grumbled, "…so would you kindly put me down before you break my rib cage?"

Leni needed a few more seconds before she felt enough calm to let her sister go. Lisa immediately dusted her clothes off and gave a glance to Leni, noticing how on the edge she still was. A hint of worry crossed her, but she immediately shrugged it off.

' _She'll survive. We have far more important matters to deal with…'_

Lisa wasn't sure where the hoverbots had placed them until she noticed that, a few meters away from her and Leni, the wall was occupied by a screen appropriately sized to match the rest of the facility—in other words, big. Below the screen various control panels and keyboards were placed, hinting at the function of the screen as a computer monitor.

Maybe they had to come over and use the interface to—

"Uhh, Lisa, maybe you can ask them how to leave?" Leni's voice once again interrupted Lisa's reasoning. Lisa simply glared at her before making a gesture for 'later' and moving towards the screen.

The monitor turned on without notice, startling both Leni and Lisa as the electronic voice started to talk. Green letters were printed over the black screen, writing down the words pronounced by the AI.

"State your identity and intentions."The voice was neutral, yet firm.

Lisa was momentarily too dazed to think straight. Thus, she wasn't able to speak before Leni did: "We're Leni and Lisa Loud, si—I mean, Ms… Ms. Computer," she said.

Her talking progressively got more and more frantic as she tried to explain her and Lisa's arrival in the laboratory. "We are very, very sorry! We didn't want to get in your house, I mean, workplace. We were at home, Lisa was doing her things in her room, and I went to ask her to help me for a moment, and the next thing I know, we're here! We didn't mean to come here in the first place! It just… happened!"

"Explanation is unlikely, and arguments are insufficient," the computer wasn't impressed apparently, even if it didn't look like it was able to feel emotions. "Proceeding with disposing protocol."

"Hey, hey, wait a second here!" Lisa suddenly said loudly, pushing Leni away. "Don't listen to my sister, she can be a little… confusing, sometimes. We have a very through explanation for our presence here, and frankly I find the way you've been treating us quite unprofessional. I wonder who programmed you in the first place, even."

"Lisa! That was rude!"

Lisa looked at Leni with an unresponsive face. "It's a program, Leni. Even if it understands basic language, I don't think it can feel any emotions, offence included."

"Dexter? Is that you?"

The computer wasn't annoyed, but the tone had definitely shifted away from the monotone orders it had been using until then. Was it... surprise? A little hint of worry, even?

"Wha—?" Leni and Lisa were both unable to answer to the question. The computer didn't need one, anyway, as it started to talk out-loud to itself.

"The time machine explosion. The alteration of the space-time continuum could be a good enough reason. A DNA alteration has to have happened as well, for this to be possible… and it could have had aging effects. It'd explain the presence of both Dexter and DeeDee here. I'll run further analysis…"

Leni watched Lisa with an interrogative gaze, and for once Lisa couldn't answer with anything but a shrug.

"I need a clear confirmation though. I can't use a simple DNA test, I can't exclude a recombination or mutations… Short-term memory may have been messed with, but I can…" the computer voice continued to talk. "Dexter… or whoever you are. Describe what a TATA box is."

Leni was completely confused by the events. "I think you're making a mistake, Ms. Computer. We don't know what a tata box is, nor where to find it… I only know about Luan's props box, if that can help. But we are not-"

"I don't know why you would ask me about a non-coding segment typical of promotors in eukaryotes with a critical role in regulation of genes," Lisa chimed in, the answer coming naturally to her mouth without even thinking. "We don't have time for this foolery, we have to talk with—"

"Right, Dexter," the computer interrupted. "My readings interpret the tone of voice as compatible with your usual self, and the way you speak shows you still have your old knowledge intact. Welcome back, and sorry for mistaking you for an intruder."

The hoverbots flied away, their whirring distracting Leni and Lisa for a moment. "We have to find a way to turn you and your sister DeeDee back into your old selves. Moreover, there are a few notifications you need to deal with. There are three on-going experiments that need your intervention, and we have at least four mechanical problems in the chemical research department in Sector 3B. I also read a…"

"I think… I think she's somehow mistaken us for someone else. Lisa… we should tell her the truth," Leni said as she slowly put two and two together.

But Lisa had far different plans in mind.

" _Computer…"_ Lisa said cautiously. The computer immediately stopped its listing, waiting for her to talk. "Tell me… I feel like I need a refresher. I…  _own_ this lab?"

"Correct, Dexter."

"I can do whatever I want with it? I can easily control every part of it right now with your help?"

"Correct. I was designed to aid you, Dexter. May I launch a program for amnesia cases? It was made in case you had an accident around the laboratory."

"I… I think I don't need that, Computer…" Lisa said, slowly. "Thank you, but I'm sure my memory will come back shortly."

"Lisa, what are you doing?" Leni was no more frightened by the overall situation—the fact that the hoverbots had left did help in that—and she was looking at her sternly. "Are you lying?"

"That is not true. Technically, at least," Lisa said, "but that is not important. Don't you see? We have every part of this place at our disposal now. Imagine the possibilities! The amount of work we can get done here! It's a dream come true, and I don't even believe in dreams…"

She walked beyond Leni, staring at the vastness of the laboratory behind her. Now that everything she had seen was at her orders, the sight had gained a whole new meaning to her. "At least… I didn't until now."

Leni would've been otherwise been happy to hear Lisa daydream like that – she'd always thought her little sister was a little too much fixed on concrete things for her age. But she didn't like the look in her eyes, the way she talked… she could feel that she was getting overwhelmed, almost infatuated by whatever interested her soo much in this place.

Before she could proceed to try to calm her down, though, the computer behind them suddenly rang a short 'bip' notification sound.

"Dexter, my sensors read your mother's voice from upstairs. She's calling for you."

Both Lisa and Leni turned hastily towards the computer's screen. "My…  _mother?!"_ Lisa mechanically repeated.

The screen changed into a feed of a camera hidden somewhere that was definitely not part of the laboratory. There was a hallway, and the two Loud sisters could see a door on the left and the beginning of a wooden railing on the right.

And standing right in front of the door, which was fully covered by various signs and paper messages that could be summarised as 'keep out', was a redheaded woman with yellow rubber gloves, a white apron and the sweetest smile ever seen. "Dexter! Dexter!" the woman said, knocking on the door. "I have prepared a little snack for you, sweetheart. Come out and have a little break!"

Lisa stared at the video feed as she slowly realized that the presence of that woman, as friendly as she looked like, meant only one thing for her and her equally baffled sister.

Trouble.

* * *

He wasn't sure what to think about this.

At first, he was surprised to see the two girls suddenly show up in Dexter's laboratory. The short kid looked like she had at least basic knowledge of science and engineering, while the older girl looked more confused by the overall situation. He had followed their journey into the lab, where their reactions made the show quite amusing.

Then, Dexter's adjutant finally realized that someone was in the laboratory, and he had fully expected it to apprehend and dispose of the intruders, like it had done numerous time with his own drones and the spybots who weren't as advanced as the one he was currently using. Instead, somehow the little girl managed to trick Computer into thinking she was a genderbent, younger and brunette version of Dexter. He had unfortunately missed the incident with the time machine—he had been monitoring the lab since his own bots had informed him about it—and the way the girl had been able to answer to Computer's question without even thinking had impressed him.

She knew more than a couple of science facts now, he couldn't argue with that. Maybe she could even challenge Dexter… but in any case, the both of them were no match for him. He was on another level for them… and the time for spying had ended. He now was sure that Dexter, whatever had happened to him, was going to be absent for more than just a few minutes… and that was a chance he couldn't let go to waste.

"Prepare a drone squad!" he uttered as he started to press keys on the panels in front of him, every now and then looking around him to check everything was working as intended. His position on his pillar in the centre of the red coloured laboratory helped a lot with that. "And be ready to send reinforcements and every resource I will ask for! I want to be one-hundred percent sure that this time we will succeed! Because…"

He stopped typing and stood up, letting his cape flap around him. "Because this is  _it!"_  he shouted, "There is no one able to stop me now. Lisa Loud… I am sorry, no hard feelings… but you'll just have to stand aside and let me destroy Dexter's lab, once and for all!  _Ha ha-ha! Ha ha-ha ha-ha!"_


	3. Unexpected

"Well, I can't say I'm liking our current predicament, but one thing is for sure, sis: you can't possibly get more  _heavy metal_ than this! Hahaha, get it?"

Luna didn't even have the time to groan as a shockwave sent the thing that used to be her and Luan's beds flying away from them. Luna and Luan yelped and ran behind a new cover before the robot could aim at them with its crude, bottle-cap shooting machine guns.

"Yeah, right, Luan, but how about you cut off the jokes for one sec and maybe get some ideas out in the open?" Luna said exasperatedly as the robot fired wildly. "We can't hide forever, that thing is going to reduce everything in our room to dust if we don't react!"

The image managed to strike a chord in Luan, as her eyes suddenly shifted to her prop chest. Thinking of all her precious tools for comedy being vaporized on the spot was not a pleasant image, even if the bots that had been chasing her and her sisters around the house were not equipped with flamethrowers or lasers.

Not yet. With the speed the mad kid in Lisa's room was producing mechanical abominations, she couldn't be sure.

The thought of her personal belongings getting destroyed, however, made Luan realize that they weren't completely disarmed against the machines. "I think I got something, Luna, but you'll have to do as I say."

"Aye, just be quick about it!" Luna said, giving a fast glance over their current cover—a rolled over drawer. The bot located her and started shooting, missing her head by mere centimetres. When it realized it couldn't penetrate the piece of furniture with its ammunition, the bot switched tactics and a light started to grow in a cavity placed into its chest.

Luan peeked from her cover to see the machine starting its charging up phase. She gave a thumbs-up to Luna, who she had already filled in, and then the two sisters sprang into action, leaping in two different directions.

The bot raised its arms to shoot them, but its crude head switched from Luna to Luan and from Luan to Luna, apparently disoriented by their separate appearances. Its attention was diverted towards the jokester sister, though, as Luan finally reached its box and opened it, revealing her secret weapon.

Mr. Coconuts.

"Wooow, oh no, Mr. Coconuts! The robot has us in its sight! We're doomed!" Luan faked a frightened tone as the robot looked at them.

"Uh…. I'm  _so_  scared," Mr. Coconuts replied, his voice being genuinely sarcastic. "Gah, if I have to get frightened for something, at least get something actually terrifying. That thing won't hurt a fly."

"Are you serious!?" Luan's surprise wasn't exactly realistic, but the robot had yet to shoot her, so she concluded the distraction was working. "He's going to blast us into nothingness if you don't keep your mouth shut!"

"I'd rather speak my mind out. Besides, that thing has no aim. He wouldn't be able to hit a watermelon right in front of him, if he had to."

The bot had no eyes whatsoever, but the exchange between Mr. Coconuts and Luan apparently managed to disturb it as it resumed to charge up the weapon in its chest. Luan gulped, and even Mr. Coconuts raised its plastic eyebrows in surprise.

That was until Luna finally completed her part of the plan and, from her upper position, she gave a thumbs-up to Luan. Thus, the jokester stopped to pretend being scared and she and Mr. Coconuts both smirked at the bot.

"Well, looks like that thing here is ready to  _try to_  destroy us," Mr. Coconuts replied.

"Yup. Too bad there isn't some proper background music, it'd make the perfect atmosphere! Hey, Luna, think you can do something about that?"

"Sure thing, sis!" Luna said. The robot, suddenly alarmed by the voice of the second sister, turned around and was welcomed by the sight of an entire set of giant guitar speakers, arranged by Luna: piled one over the other, there was an entire wall of the boxes in front of the bot, with Luna right on the top, guitar in her hand.

"Let's have a little jam!" Luna exclaimed before strumming her instrument. The bot attempted to release the partially charged beam in its chest in a desperate attack, but the music wave hit him before he could do so, sending him flying in the air. The blast was still released, cutting a huge hole on the ceiling but otherwise missing Luna and Luan.

Grinning, Luna launched herself in a complex solo, the speakers on full volume. Even Luan had to leave Mr. Coconuts and protect her ears, as the music continued to stall the bot. The machine was trying to get up to retaliate, but the buzzes and sparks coming out of its body everytime Luna strummed meant no good for it.

Eventually, Luna concluded her piece with a final, fast sequence, which ended up making one of the speakers suddenly lose the protective mesh and fall to the side, smoke coming out of it. Inevitably, the entire structure collapsed, but not before Luna could pass her plectrum on the cords one final time, releasing a final sondwave towards the struggling bot.

Once the bot absorbed the last part of Luna's solo, its head blew up without notice, making  _another_ hole in the ceiling. The body sparked and fizzed, stumbling about, until it lost all of its force and fell down in defeat.

When Luan saw that the coast was clear, she immediately went to Luna's aid, who had been literally submerged by the debris of her music equipment. Only a hand was visible, still holding on a surprisingly undamaged guitar.

"Hang on, Luna, I'm here!" Luan reassured as she moved a speaker out of the way and pulled Luna out of the mess. "Are you all right?"

"I'm good, just a couple of scratches," Luna said as she dusted herself off. Then, she triumphantly raised the guitar above her head, "I saved my ax!"

"Yeah, not bad. I guess we really  _axed_ that robot for good!" Luan chuckled. Luna couldn't help laughing with her this time, as the success in defeating one of the robots wasn't something she could ignore.

Then, the noise of fighting still happening in the Loud House brought the two sisters back to reality. Nodding to each other, Luan gave a glance to Mr. Coconuts to see if he was all right while Luna carefully placed her guitar in a safe place. Then, the two of them burst out of their room and into the hallway.

Their attention was immediately caught by Lori's room. The door was left ajar, but the noises coming from inside left no doubt about what was going on. Someone was getting beaten down  _hard._

"Lori!" Luna yelled. "Let's go, Luan, we gotta save her!"

Before they could move, though, something suddenly exited Lori's room, slamming the door open to two girls' utter surprise. They screamed in fright and jumped out of the way before the object could ran over them, while the thing finished its flight in their room.

"…Lori?" Luan tentatively called. She and Luan got up and slowly walked over to the door… but when they leaned over to see what had just missed them by an inch, they didn't find the groaning body of their battered sister. Instead, there was a robotic, smoking bust in their room.

Something stepped behind them, and when Luna and Luan whirled around, they both paled. Lori was standing with a few scratches on her arms, but otherwise she was unharmed. The same couldn't be said, though, for the bot that she was holding in the air with one hand by its head. The machine was pitifully flailing about trying to get free, but Lori was unfazed. Her face was a cold mask of annoyance – scratch that,  _anger_ , and she wasn't letting go.

"I literally hope for that kid to be gone before I can see him again," Lori proclaimed, "or so help me I'm gonna catch that brat, put him in the oven with one of your pies, Luan, wait until he's well cooked and then I'll _eat him!"_

The hold on the robot's head was so tight that the low-quality metal ceded under Lori's fingers. As a result, she utterly crushed the robot's top, the noise making both Luna and Luan hug each other for comfort. Then, Lori let go of the remains, that dispersed below her like they were grains of sand.

"Uuuh… okay, Lori… just calm down, sis, no need to lose control, huh?" Luna said.

Lori simply hmphed and looked towards the corridor. "We'll see about that  _after_ we've dealt with these 'bots' once and for all."

As if on cue, more fighting sounds were heard. Luan and Luna made a fast breath and put aside for the moment the fear of getting on Lori's nerves and they exchanged a glance with their older sister, who nodded. Afterwards, they bolted for the ground floor, where another battle was taking place.

Much more bots were moving between the kitchen, the dining room and the living room, chasing Lynn and Lincoln. But while Lincoln was mostly screaming and running for his life, Lynn was laughing and kicking metallic butts all around her. Lori, Luna and Luan were even able to see a bot disoriented by the screaming Lincoln in the centre of the living room, just to be struck by Lynn's foot right after.

"Heya!" Lynn greeted once she noticed her three older sisters looking at her. "Wanna join in the fun?"

"I am  _not_ having fun, Lynn!" Lincoln cried from the kitchen.

"Oh, cut it off, Linc, we're just getting started!" Lynn said. More bots suddenly burst into the house through the main door, most probably newly created drones sent by the mad kid upstairs.

"Curse him… now that I think about it, can't we get him instead of dealing with these canheads?" Lori said.

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Lucy said, startling Lori, Luan and Luna. The three sisters ended up hitting each other and tumbled down the stairs. Lucy couldn't help let a little smile slip away as the three sisters, now one over the other, glared at her.

"Lucy, I know you do have a liking in doing this, now is not the right moment!" Luan said while trying to weave herself out of Lori and Luna.

Lucy continued to talk, ignoring her statement. "The young scientist has barricaded himself inside Lisa's room for the second time, and he has reinforced the blockage. Even the vents have been cut off… We'll need more than Lynn's brute force to get inside this time."

Lori groaned as she got up. "Please, tell me you have at least one good news to share, Lucy…"

"I do," Lucy replied. "The rate of the release of the robots has been constantly slowing down. We may be able to clear them out of our house if we're enough fast."

"Yeah, talking about that, a little help here?!" Lynn interrupted. Right then she had been grabbed by two different drones, which were playing a match of tug-of-war with her as the cord.

By then, Lori, Luna and Luan were up. Lucy came to their side just as Lori and Luna stretched their necks and Luan donned a worrying grin.

"No prob, Lynn," Luan said. "We'll get the machine problem solved in  _bot_ time! Hahaha!"

Lori and Luna sighed, resigning themselves to the fact that Luan was going to dispense bot-themed puns during the entire fight. Then, they both rushed towards the group of bots around Lynn.

* * *

Five minutes: that was how long it took for the Louds to disable every single bot on the ground floor. The end of the fight became clear when Lincoln, who had been running the entire time, finally came to a halt. The boy hastily watched around, looking for potential mechanical pursuers, and when he realized that his sisters had dealt with everyone, he left himself fall on the floor.

"Gee… I… I need a break, or I'll spit out my own lungs," he said, panting repeatedly in an attempt to recover his breath. Lincoln only had five seconds to rest, though, as the face of her sport-loving sister suddenly appeared in his line of sight.

"Na-ah, Linc," Lynn said, unceremoniously grabbing him by the neck of his shirt and lifting him up. "We're not gonna stop until Lisa's boyish and evil version upstairs is dealt with. So, get moving!"

Lincoln grumbled something under his breath but nonetheless followed Lynn into the living room. The chamber was a mess of remains of metal-made machines and destroyed furniture, but no active robot was in sight. Luan was moving a bot's corpse out of the stairs, while Luna and Lori admired the results of their job.

Lucy was patting on Lily's back, who had been hidden the entire time and had dared to move out of the hiding place Lucy had put her in only after the end of the fight, and the sight of the baby clinging on his younger sister's shoulder made Lincoln recover some of his spine back.

"I think we're finished in this floor… for now," Luan noted after letting go of the robotic pieces and turning towards her siblings.

"I have to admit, once you've caught a good rhythm, these things aren't that scary," Luna commented.

"Hm, I thought we were not prepared for them… but maybe living in the same house as Lisa has helped a little bit," Lucy said, Lily nodding her approval (as far as she could understand).

"Leave the gloating for later, guys," Lori commanded. "Lucy, you said you've been wandering through the vents. Anything from Lola and Lana?"

"Last time I saw them, they were engaging a group of bots in their room," Lucy said. And right after her sentence, a war cry was heard from upstairs.

"Right," Lincoln said. A moment later, the seven kids were running towards the first floor, turned right and made a beeline for Lola and Lana's room.

However, once they got a glance of what was going on, they immediately realized that the twins weren't doing half bad. And that was a euphemism.

Lana had two plungers in her arms, tools that on the top were full of robotic scrap remains. That wasn't the most surprising sight, though, as all around her the pets were dispersed around the room. Some of them were gnawing at already beaten bots, while others walked around sniffing in search of possible bots to finish off. Lana saluted her siblings once she saw them peek from the door with a big smile, apparently untouched by the chaos.

The same couldn't be said for Lola. All of the seven siblings gasped when they saw her, and Lynn had to hold the still panting Lincoln by his shoulder to not let him fall down again. Lola was standing on a pile of defeated machines, and she looked livid. Her side of the room was even more of a mess than Lana's, and apparently most of the bots had preferred to focus their efforts on her. Not that it had helped them win, on the long run.

Even more surprising was the fact that Lola, while not completely unscathed, looked pretty well kept for a girl who had just endured through a fight. She would even have passed for normal… if it wasn't for the giant cannon she was still keeping on one shoulder, of course.

Once Lola noticed her siblings, she instinctively aimed the cannon at her siblings, who immediately scattered in fright. "Hey, I'm not an enemy!" she protested, offended by their reaction.

"Well, stop aiming that thing at us then! Where did you even get something like that?!" Lincoln said.

"Are you blind? These things are full of weapons. At one point I couldn't hold it any longer and grabbed the first one I could find," Lola explained. Now that they were nearer, the siblings had realized that Lola's giant cannon wasn't actually  _that_  big—it was a little oversized for Lola but otherwise it wasn't gigantic. Even so, it still looked dangerous.

"At one point they were all trying to get me, and they even started wrecking my things!" she continued to talk, anger returning to her face. "Oh, I sure hope for his well being that that Dexter boy has an escape plan ready, or so help me I will catch that moron, put him in the oven inside one of Luan's pies, wait until he's well done and then I'll  _eat him!"_

Luna and Luan looked at each other, then they looked at Lori, who simply shrugged.

"Certainly, me and my team here enjoyed the fire support, sis," Lana said. "Guys, you've done enough for today. You're dismissed."

From Charles the dog to Izzy the Lizard, the pets stood up on their hind legs and saluted Lana, military-like. Once again, Luan and Luna exchanged a glance before sending a quick glance to Lori. "Hey, don't look at me like I have any part in this!"

"Well, at least we're all together… except Lisa and Leni…" Lincoln said. The siblings stayed silent for a moment once they remembered that two of the members of their family were still missing.

"Well, we have to do something! I guess the four-eyes has depleted Lisa's resources, if he's not sending more bots after us?" Lynn said.

"That, or he can't find Lisa's secret stashes," Lucy agreed. "We have a few minutes at least before he finds another way to antagonize us."

"Then we must act now!" Lynn said. "Let's get inside that room and give a piece of our mind to that psycho!"

"Slow down, Lynn," Lori said sternly, "Lucy has already told us the guy has barricaded the entrance again. Kicking the 'door' down won't work again."

Lincoln glanced at Lisa's room though the doorway and, in fact, the door to the genius' room had been sealed with metal. If he had to guess, Dexter may have even added something bigger on the other side, just to be safe. Lynn was strong, but she wasn't enough strong to breach into that.

On the other hand…

Lincoln looked at Lola. She was still keeping the energy cannon on her shoulder. Then he looked at Lana.

And in the end, he smiled.

"Say, girls… I think I we won't need to do much to deal with Dexter… I have a plan."

* * *

"What in the name of everything that is made of strings…?!" Dexter found himself at loss of words.

He had finished the material reserves he had found. Right now, there were only three crude bots behind him, waiting for his orders, and he  _knew_ they were going to be obliterated if he sent them to fight off the Louds. Thankfully, he had found a laptop below one of the drawers, one used by the owner of this room apparently. Surely, there had to be indications about other secret stores in the house where he could find useful resources.

He just had to hack into the thing, and with the age of the computer, he had expected to gain access in no time. That was ten minutes ago.

And even so…

_Access denied._

"Augh! How you dare, you little Palaeolithic abacus!" Dexter shouted in disconcert, "Why are you refusing to cooperate?!"

He couldn't waste more time with that piece of junk. He could no more hear his bots fighting beyond the walls, and he didn't look forward to what the members of the family were going to do in the unfortunate case they managed to get inside the room once again. How could this get any worse?

"Dexter?"

Oh, yeah,  _that way…_

"DeeDee, I don't have time for your weird requests now. Please, keep doing what you've been doing until now, which is sitting in the corner in silence."

"Dexter, I've been watching you until now, and I think that what you're doing will get us nowhere."

"Oh, really?" Dexter turned around to glare at DeeDee. "And say, wise one, what kind of better idea do you have?"

"These guys didn't seem half bad, Dex. They just took us for intruders, but if only we could show them we mean no harm—"

"Talking won't work, DeeDee! Can your extremely limited short-term memory reach back to at least one hour ago, when  _both_ of us were tied up against our will?"

DeeDee frowned. "I  _remember_ that, but it's no excuse for building an entire army to attack them!"

Dexter passed a hand over her face. "When did you become so responsible out of nowhere?"

"Well… I did visit the older girls' room when we got here… and I really liked the kind of stuff they owned in their room… make-up and so on. No use getting on their bad side…"

' _Of course.'_

"But that's just a minor detail!" DeeDee quickly added, "We're not solving anything this way, Dexter! Just stop for a moment and try to talk with them now while we still can!"

"I'm not letting the enemy have any word in this!" Dexter bellowed. "I will fight to the death, even if they mow down my fortified barricade right now!"

**BOOM!**

Dexter and DeeDee slowly turned towards the 'barricade'. An entire hole had been opened in the place where the obstructed doorway used to be, and the objects Dexter had used to build up the barricade had ceased to exist.

Lola and Lana Loud walked in first. Lana had a couple of wrenches in her hands, while Lola was still keeping the cannon over her shoulder, smoke coming out of the muzzle.

"Wow, I think I'm starting to like this bad boy," Lola said, passing a hand over the metal. Then, she jumped and let out a yelp of pain, retracting her hand and losing her hold on the weapon, which fell down with a 'thud'.

"Yeah, it just needed a couple of knobs turned around inside and it doubled its power. Too bad it overheats now…" Lana said, putting her tools back in the pockets of her overalls.

"Couldn't you tell me that  _before_ I fired?!"

Lana shrugged, a hint of a smirk in her face. Then, the rest of the Loud family came into the room, with Lincoln smirking as his plan worked out exactly in the way he intended. Then, the nine siblings located the source of their recent problems.

Dexter bore their glares, firing back his best threatening gaze and his three bots behind him ready for battle, and for a few moments the two sides came to a stand-off. Even DeeDee looked back and forth from the Louds to her brother, unsure what to do to avoid getting beaten up once again.

"I will give you one chance, mark my words," Dexter announced after he saw the oldest sibling twitch her eyes at him. He had to give a shot to DeeDee's idea… if only because he doubted he and his three last bots alone could do anything to defeat the Louds. He just had to pretend he had the upper hand.

"Surrender, and I'll make sure that no harm is made to you."

The answer came in the form of Lynn Loud Junior snatching the nearest metal scrap she could find and flinging it at him. One of the bots caught the object in mid-air, showing surprising dexterity.

Dexter hummed.  _'Well, that didn't end well… no matter, I won't go down and let myself get tied up again without a fight, curse me if I do!'_

"Very well!" Dexter pointed a finger at the Louds just as the siblings tensed their muscles, ready to charge. "Cheapbots #65, 66, 67! No priso-!"

" _Alarm!"_

The electronic message was so loud that not only Dexter was cut off, but the Loud siblings immediately halted before they could rush towards him. "Alarm! Alarm! Laboratory under attack!"

"The what?" Lincoln questioned.

"Wait, wait, wait! The laboratory! Cheapbot #67, you can communicate with the lab?" Dexter asked.

"Laboratory under attack! Permission required to move and defend!" the bot talked as if he hadn't heard him, but it was enough for an answer for Dexter.

"Uhhh, Dexter… why are you grinning? You're creeping me out," DeeDee asked when she saw him look at her with a particularly disturbing grimace that  _should_  have been a grin.

"DeeDee, don't you realize? I told you before we were not in a different moment of time, and this confirms we're also in the same dimension! We're still on the same planet! We just need a way to travel back and we're good to go. No taking over a place to build a new laboratory is needed!"

The Loud siblings were too much confused to say anything in reply.

DeeDee didn't seem too much joyous about the fact, though. "That's… good, I guess."

"It is news I warmly welcome, indeed! Now… wait a moment. Cheaptbot #67… did you say the laboratory was…"

"…under attack," the bot finished. "Computer emergency frequency used. Broadcast through the atmosphere for potential idle probes able to aid."

Dexter's good mood disappeared as the gravity of the situation fell on him. "No, no, no! He couldn't possibly… cheapbot, what was the codename for the emergency message?"

"Mandark."

The Louds were even more confused as Dexter let out a scream of distress and began to list his options out loud and make mental calculations about the fastest way to go back. When DeeDee noticed they were looking at her interrogatively, she simply shrugged.

"Guys… I'm beginning to think that this dude wasn't lying when he talked about time machines, a secret laboratory and all of that…" Luna wondered.

"It sure looks more likely now. I don't see him programming that robot to fake that conversation, and his reaction was very  _realistic,"_ Lucy said.

"But wait, girls," Lincoln said. "If what he's said is true, then it means that the swap he's mentioned may be true as well. And that means Lisa and Leni are in his laboratory!"

"Which the canhead has just said is under attac—oh my gosh!" Lori gasped.

DeeDee suddenly found herself surrounded. "What's going on? Who's attacking your brother's laboratory? What is 'Mandark'?!" Many voices were talking at once.

"Hey, hey, calm down guys. Mandark is just a friend of Dexter who he sometimes fights with," DeeDee replied nonchalantly, "he has some kind of rivalry thing with him. He's a weird boy, but his laboratory is very nice as a dance-rehearsal gym!"

"…what?" Lola considered letting DeeDee explain herself in a better way or punch her in the face anyway.

"Ignore that moron I'm cursed to call sister," Dexter corrected. "Mandark is not just a petty rival, he's my  _sworn enemy_  and, while completely stupid compared to me, I've learned to not underestimate him with time."

"But wait, are our sisters in your lab? Does it mean they are in danger?" Lynn questioned. She grabbed Dexter's labcoat and lifted him in the air. "Talk!"

"Well, 'polite' doesn't look like a concept you cavemen know of of for sure," Dexter couldn't help saying, but his insult only resulted in her tightening her grasp.

"Lynn," Lincoln said, putting a hand over her sister's shoulder. "Keep your cool."

Lynn glared at her brother, but behind her she saw all the rest of her sisters looking worried sick. Even Lily was silently pleading her with puppy dog eyes to calm down and let the annoying kid talk. Thus, she exhaled a gust of air and let Dexter go.

"Thank you," Dexter replied, his gratitude badly hiding a hint of sarcasm.

"Now, please… tell us. What's going on? Are Leni and Lisa in danger?" Lana asked.

Dexter turned the other way around and scratched his chin in deep thought. As the only possible outcome came to his mind, Dexter suddenly realized how it felt like to be a man of knowledge and having to be the one to share bad news at the same time.

"I can't be sure that a swap has really happened, but it definitely could be the case. The good news is that your sisters have survived the event and my laboratory is still active, so its auto-defence system should be able to stall Mandark for a few minutes."

"Minutes? What do you mean with  _minutes?!"_ Lola said, her voice quivering.

"It means bad news. It means that Mandark is going to break through in no time anyway, and that my laboratory is in great danger, which is a tragedy I won't let happen that easily!"

He paused.

"And, unfortunately, I'm afraid that even your sisters are in trouble."

* * *

"So, how did you meet Dexter, dear?"

"Well, you should know, miss, that your son has a wide reputation in the scientific community. I've been personally present during one of his conferences and, in fact, that was one of the reason that brought me to talk with him and propose to start a project together."

"Oh, you don't say? Honey, your son has finally found a little girl to work with for a school project!" Dexter's mom called through the kitchen.

"Well, that was unexpected. My boy is growing up!" Dexter's dad replied from the living room.

Lisa had to resort to every ounce of self-control left inside her to not correct them, let alone protest about the implications. "Uhh… yes… school project," she said.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous!" Dexter's mom scolded before turning back towards Lisa. She was actually putting the final touches to the 'snack' she had mentioned when calling for her soon minutes before, a full line of bread slices with various spreads, ranging from chocolate variations to various jam types. "Sorry about that, dear, he likes to joke about Dexter's social life more often than he should. I'm almost done!"

The last slice was at last completed, and Dexter's mom came to the table where Lisa was sitting at, carrying the tray full of delicious-looking snacks with her.

"You're the guests, so I'm not gonna say anything if you pick the first choice before Dexter and DeeDee can!" Dexter's mom said, winking at Lisa. Then, she looked at the other person sitting beside the young genius. "What about you? DeeDee didn't tell me that she was looking for private lessons to help her out. How did she contact you? I'm curious."

Lisa wasn't exactly comfortable with the need to constantly come up with new lies to tell two parents, but Leni was on another level as looked like she was going to blow up any moment. She was sweating, almost trembling, and all she managed to say were a few senseless syllables: "I… uh… well… we…"

' _Leni… come on…'_ Lisa thought. She was keeping a fake smile on her face, but deep down she was hoping for Leni to say  _anything._ She could already see that the female parental unit was raising an eyebrow, suspect growing in her.

"We… uhm… we met! And… we, like, talked a week ago or so," Leni finally managed to sputter.

"Yeah, of course!" Lisa quickly came to Leni's aid. "My sister her is a little timid, but she's an experienced tutor. I'm sure that after the first free lessons your daughter will be most pleased with the services she can offer!"

Dexter's mom chuckled. "Oh, sorry about that, you speak so much like Dexter I don't know why you didn't meet him earlier. Where are you from, if you don't mind?"

"Oh, that's easy! We're from Royal—" an elbow to the side made sure Leni couldn't finish the sentence.

"We live not much far from here, but we do go to another school," Lisa quickly corrected.

"Oh, you mean Royal Elementary and that high school nearby!"

Lisa and Leni exchanged a glance, then they nodded vigorously.

"Now I understand. Heh, funny though that DeeDee and Dexter met both of you independently even if you're sisters!"

"Yeah, very strange indeed…" Lisa said, firing a glare to Leni.  _'No thanks to you and your great idea of telling them our true generalities as the first greeting!'_

Leni didn't seem to notice her—she continued to smile awkwardly at Dexter's mom as she continued to talk. "Well, no need to keep you two busy here. Take the tray with you and go back to DeeDee and Dexter… I must say, them working together in the same room is an even rarer occurrence!"

Leni quickly picked up the tray and the two Loud sisters slowly walked away, trying to remain calm, as Dexter's mom laughed. "Better make use of that as long as they're on good terms! Tell them we're having chicken for dinner!"

"Of course!" Lisa said, grabbing Leni's dress and starting to pull her to make her walk faster. "We'll meet up again!"

"Have fun, kids!" Dexter's dad said, peeking from the side of his armchair. Lisa and Leni smiled, then once the man turned his attention back to the TV, they rushed towards Dexter's room.

"Oh, sweet atoms of Democritus, thankfully that has finally come to an end," Lisa said just as she opened the door. As soon as they stepped into the room, the bookcase shifted into the wall, revealing the entrance to the laboratory. "Now I can get back to start things off in the laboratory! Follow my steps, dear sister! We now have nothing between us and infinite knowledge!"

Leni did not answer as she put the tray in the nearest table she found once inside the laboratory. Her mind was busy elsewhere… even if not enough busy to ignore the chocolate spread. Both her and Lisa walked with a slice of bread with chocolate in their hands, munching on it every so and then.

Right after they discovered the existence of a pair of parents upstairs, Lisa had bombarded Leni with detailed explanations and orders, giving her no time to reply nor think, and before she could even realize what she was supposed to do she found herself in front of a complete stranger. Only by listening to Lisa's introduction (and quick correction to her own introduction) she finally realized that what her little sister was trying to do was tricking the two parents into thinking the two of them were  _supposed_ to be here and were friends to the previous two kids who lived in the house above the laboratory.

"Dexter, as you requested beforehand, I have initialized the protocols for extended testing procedures," Computer started once Leni and Lisa made their entrance. "The assembly lines in Sector 7C and 7D are already ready to begin standard activity. They will sustain everything you ask for."

"Excellent!" Lisa beamed. "If any of the proper test equipment becomes ready to use, let me—"

"Lisa…?"

Lisa frowned before slowly turning towards Leni. "What is it, now?"

"Do you want me to initiate the amnesia program for your sister, Dexter? She appears to have more difficulties in retaining her memories, including your name."

"No, no, Computer, I'll deal with it. Keep monitoring the sectors," Lisa quickly corrected. She pushed Leni towards another part of the facility, as if to find somewhere where they could talk without being eavesdropped… even if she was pretty sure Computer could listen to them regardless of where they were.

"May you state your business quickly, so that I can return to my current job?" Lisa said once they stopped moving, studying her sister.

"Uh, Lisa, listen… this, like, all of this… is wrong," Leni began, trying to find the best words she knew to express her thoughts.

Lisa sighed. "Leni, I understand you may have some lingering second thoughts about our presence here and the way we had to justify that to the parental units in the house above us. That is minor importance, though… we must—"

"No, it  _is_ important!" Leni said, raising her voice. "Why are you acting like this, Lisa? This is not our stuff, that was not our house, those were not our mom and dad! We should go back upstairs and tell them the truth… like, we don't even know about what happened to their real kids!"

Lisa narrowed her eyes. "Have you not listened to what I told you? Computer has told us—I mean,  _you,"_ she glanced around, hoping Computer was really just minding her business, _"_ that the laboratory was a secret and was said to be kept so by whoever runs this place. We couldn't risk revealing that to the two adults, so we did what we had to do… besides, I'm sure we spared them a very bad day."

"Lisa, that's not a good reason to lie about  _us!"_  Leni was not going to relent that easily, apparently. "This is not your… la-something-tory. You shouldn't be all like you own it…!"

"This isn't some random workplace, Leni, this is where scientific discoveries can be made… and those are not property of anyone!" Lisa said. She raised her arm and slowly traced a line behind herself, passing over the entire laboratory (at least what was visible) with it. "This is the  _heaven_ of research, the refuge for hard-working scientists, the perfect utopia I never knew I wanted!"

"But Lisa, what about the guys who really own this place? What happened to them? Where are they? Lisa, where  _even_ are we? Where are our sisters, our brother? Oh gosh, they must be worried sick!"

The volley of questions managed to finally have Lisa at least free her mind of the dreams of scientific wonder for one moment. She had completely forgotten about finding out how she and her sister had been transported away from their home… and, by doing so, she had failed to think about their siblings as well. As much as she knew her absence may have gone unnoticed for some time given how solitude didn't bother her, Leni was another question. She could already feel the migraine coming from the scolding Lori was going to give her… not to mention the regret.

And Leni's doubts about the proper owners of the place did give the four-year-old a lot to think about. Granted, she was sure they were going to let the fact she had taken control of the lab slide once they saw what accomplishments she was surely going to obtain… but the fact that they had apparently disappeared  _as_ she and Leni appeared was an event she would have been stupid to consider a coincidence. The connection was obvious... and since they obviously were no more in their house…

' _What am I even thinking?'_ Lisa suddenly thought, shaking her head to free herself of weird theories she didn't need right then. "Leni, listen to me… your worries are understandable, but I believe you may be exaggerating a little bit. I'm sure that—"

" _Are you sure about that?"_

It was a third voice who had spoken: not Leni, not Lisa, and not Computer. The two Loud sisters tried to look around in search of whoever had pronounced those words, as if he was listening to them, but they could see no one.

"Computer…" Lisa called. "Are you the only IA able to use the intercoms in the laboratory?"

Computer's answer wasn't what Lisa expected.  _"Alarm!_ Breach detected in Level 5, Dexter!"

"Breach? Wait, what do you mean with  _'breach'?_ We're under attack?!" Lisa was completely lost.

"Correct."

"Lisa, I'm scared," Leni whimpered. "What's going on?"

"I…" She couldn't even believe to her own words. "I… I  _don't know."_

"Dexter, my sensors are scanning a small squad of hostile drones moving fast towards your current position, along with an organic being. The auto-defence systems are up and running but unfortunately the attacker seems to know about every part of it and I calculate it won't give more than ten seconds of additional time. I've also analysed the previous message that overrode the intercoms, and the results are pretty much clear. Mandark is responsible for the breach, Dexter."

"Who… who is he? What does he want?" Lisa's question was sincere, and she had fully forgotten about keeping the act up. Whoever Mandark was, she already had a hunch he was up to no good.

"This sudden event may be the cause of resurfacing symptoms of amnesia. Dexter, Mandark is your worst enemy. He's sworn many ill intentions towards you, but I'll summarize his main thoughts. He, in a few words, wants reinforce his superiority as the most ingenious scientist by destroying your laboratory."

…

"You… you can't be serious… this is preposterous! It makes no sense!"

"Is he going to destroy us as well?!"

"No worries…  **I** will answer all of your questions, ladies!"

Lisa and Leni turned around and found themselves face to face with an entire army of ominous-looking machines with designs quite reminiscent of the ones seen as enemies in Lincoln's videogames and comics. Leni's face went white and she grabbed hold of Lisa for comfort, who was simply too stunned to react.

"Ohh… you are so cute…" Mandark announced as he revealed himself to be inside one of the bigger war-robots, its chest hatch opening to show the boy inside. Mandark was wearing his usual villain attire, which was pretty on par with the look of his drones, and that didn't help Leni and Lisa stay calm.

He strode towards them with one of his best grins. "Forgive me if I appear to be amused by your distress… it is a necessary symptom of years of… plans and hard-work in my personal goal. One that I am going to accomplish right here and now!"

"Please, don't destroy us!" Leni suddenly squealed.

Mandark chortled. "Oh, you don't have to cry, blonde... and incredibly beautiful lady… I'll just… get this over with… and destroy… but not you… oooh…"

" _DeeDee reaction detected. Anti-DeeDee emergency measure is on,"_ one of the robots behind Mandark said with a gurgling noise as Mandark stared at the scared Leni, entrapped by her sight. A moment later, a full bucket of water was spilled over him. Mandark shook his head and fixed his glasses, trying to get most of the water out of his body. "Oh, thanks. Thankfully I brought that program with me, I had a hunch she was going to look a bit too much like DeeDee up close. Now, back to where we were…"

Mandark looked back at Lisa and Leni, and he raised an eyebrow. While Lisa was still in Leni's arms, the two girls were now looking at him with weirded out gazes, confusion replacing their previous fear.

"What, no more fright for me to enjoy?" Mandark said. "Oh, no matter. Just stand aside, Louds, while I take care of the laboratory and take advantage of Dexter's absence. Ugh, now you ruined my long-waited moment…"

He walked beyond Lisa and Leni and watched the various parts of the laboratory, already looking forward for the destruction he was going to cause. "This is it… not even you, faithful assistant of Dexter, can do anything without his direct orders. Everything you've built until now, my dear nemesis, will be vaporized! Everything will be lost forever and me, only me, will be the ruling genius of this neighbourhood… who I am kidding, of the  _entire planet!_  Ha ha-ha! Ha ha-ha ha-ha!"

He raised a finger and moved it around carefully, scanning through the various machines that were placed around him. "Let's start simple, shall we? Drones, aim at… that interface screen! Nothing wrong in targeting the only small hindrance left… nothing personal, Computer!"

He exhibited himself in his most evil expression, then he gave the order. "Drones! Fire at will!"

Mandark's shout was followed by roaring gunfire and various rockets dethatching and igniting their propellers. The zone where the screen was located was immediately covered by smoke as Mandark's bots fired.

"That is enough," Mandark commanded. "I want to watch and admire it… Yes… I can almost see it!"

As the robots stopped their attack, the smoke cleared quickly in the large laboratory. Mandark's dark smile, however, was quickly replaced by a look of befuddlement as in place of the remains of destroyed electronics, he found… a huge metal panel covering (and protecting) everything.

"What?!" Mandark spluttered. "Impossible!"

The panel suddenly retracted itself to reveal a Dexbot behind it. It was a minor model, but nonetheless one able to withstand the explosions and bullets for some time. As it stood and readied itself to react to another attack, Mandark gritted his teeth in danger.

"How…  _how?!_ I know you, Computer, you don't have this level of freedom in the laboratory, you have to be authorized by my accursed rival!"

"Thank you, Computer. Get ready and deploy the nearest forces available… for now, we just need to stall him," he heard a female voice with a distinct lisp say behind him.

Mandark turned around just in time to see computer reply, "Acknowledged, Dexter. Reinforcements are on their way."

"Excellent," Lisa Loud said. Leni had already placed her down and now the sixteen-year-old was no surer she had ever known this version of her little sister. Lisa's face was a hard, almost neutral stare of clear determination… she was too much surprised to tell her how she didn't think it was a good idea to do what she had just done.

"You…  _you!"_ Mandark bellowed. "How you dare, you little brat, go back and play with your baby toys! This is no place for you! What do you even hope to accomplish!?"

"Isn't that obvious… Mandark?" Lisa replied calmly. "I'm going to  _stop you."_


	4. Mandark Strikes

Mandark stared at Lisa Loud, momentarily unable to register the words that had come out of the little girl's mouth.

When his brain could no more refuse to believe to the facts, his reaction made Lisa flinch a little. He did not shout in anger, nor did he express his distaste at her rebellious statement: he, instead, fell to the side and rolled around, laughing hysterically.

"Ha ha-ha! Ha ha-ha! I can't—! Ha ha-ha!" he laughed and laughed, as Lisa simply waited for him to stop, frowning.

"You…" he finally started to talk, once the laughter died out, "You really… you really think you can…  _stop me?_ You are a  _toddler,_  or not much more than that. You just happened to be here, you know nothing about this pathetic laboratory, nor you know how to control it to its full potential. Ha! Thanks for the laugh, but pay attention to my words, kid… stand aside and let me do my job. He-he…"

He turned around, rubbing tears of laughter out of his eyes. "Now… we… where was I? Oh, right. Bots, search and des—"

"It seems that, despite your head's size, you have difficulties in comprehending basic messages, Mandark."

Mandark froze, then he turned around mechanically

"What did you just  _say?"_

"I said that you failed to get the message, even with your notable cranium capacity," Lisa replied calmly. She adjusted her glasses, ignoring Mandark's reaction as he blabbered in an attempt to retort. "Thus, allow me to repeat myself. I can't let you destroy this laboratory, because that would be a tremendous loss for scientific research, and no amount of gripe towards the original owner is going to justify the complete obliteration of the facility to my eyes. So, what you can expect me to do is simple: I will try to stop you and, if I find out that is not viable, I will simply  _stall you_ until the owner comes back."

Mandark continued to splutter incoherent sentences under his breath, looking at Lisa as if she was a ghost. Then, he finally recomposed himself, turning around and taking a long breath in.

Lisa simply waited for him to voice his thoughts. She was uncannily calm, especially considering how much surprised she had been when Computer had broken the news about the lab invasion to her minutes before.

It was hard… very hard for Leni to recognize her.

"Lisa…?"

Lisa hastily turned towards her sister, her eyes wide, as if she had forgotten about her existence. "Leni! I… uh. I need you to, uhm… find a hiding place where you can remain safe from the possible pandemonium that is going to arise from the current state of things."

After saying that, she turned her gaze back to Mandark, who was still trying to wrap his mind about Lisa's declaration of war, his robots waiting idly nearby. Yet, Lisa's gaze had lost the calm determination from before.

"Lisa, what is going on?" Leni pressed on. "Why are you doing… this?"

"I believe you have also listened to my justification as I told the troublemaker there about my reasons." Lisa did not look at Leni as she talked.

"But Lisa, that… that's dangerous!" Leni suddenly exclaimed. "I don't know about him, but, like, he has a robot army behind him!"

"At this point I expect this laboratory to have one with double the size,  _at least."_

"He is wearing an evil villain cape!"

"That fact alone makes me question his real 'villain' abilities."

Lisa's retorts did not work as expected as Leni walked until she was right in front of her, blocking her view. "Leni…" Lisa muttered.

Leni sighed and kneeled until she could look into her sister's eyes face to face.

"He looks  _dangerous,_ Lisa!" Leni said vehemently. "I understand, you're annoyed because he wants to destroy this place, and I can't blame you even if I don't like this lab-thingy in the first place, but you can't simply tell him to stop. I'm worried… he… he's gonna  _hurt_  you!"

"Pshh. He's not going to hurt anyone—"

"No!" Leni interrupted her. "You are putting yourself in danger, and I won't let you do that!"

Lisa scowled. "Leni, I can't waste time arguing with you. I won't allow this attack to scientific advancement itself to go unstopped, therefore I require you to leave my sight.  _Now!"_

Leni's eyebrows arched. She knew Lisa could sound quite stubborn sometimes, but this was on another new level. "Lisa, you… you can't! Just, let's leave! Let's go back home!"

Lisa narrowed her eyes. "I will not repeat myself, Leni.  _Out. Of the way."_

"I'd take that advice and run if I were you, madam."

Leni and Lisa almost jumped. Mandark had approached them while they were arguing, and he was two meters away from Leni, who scrambled behind Lisa.

"Things are going to get pretty heated up… since your young sister here has dared to cross my path," Mandark announced, his look shifting from Leni to Lisa. "You, little brat, have made a  _mistake."_

He snapped his fingers, and behind him the noise of mechanisms being activated echoed as his drones readied their weapons. "And I'll make sure that you understand well how far the consequences will go."

Then, he raised a hand. "Drones! New directive: locate subject 'Lisa Loud' and dispose of her!"

Then, he leaped in the air and lowered his hand in one, swift motion. "Fire at will!"

Leni reacted on pure instinct. As Mandark's drones started to fire rockets, bolts and lead at them, she snatched Lisa and started to run. She heard something that was probably Lisa's voice shouting at her, but she didn't catch any of her words, her mind completely focused on the escape.

But as much as Leni was running fast, the weaponry at Mandark's disposal was faster. Soon, Lisa and Leni were engulfed in smoke, as the various projectiles impacted and exploded into a cloud of dust and debris. The drones ceased fire after a few moments of unstopped gunfire.

Mandark tapped his foot, waiting for the cloud to clear out. This time he did not react with surprise when she saw a squad of five Dexbots composing a protective metal wall around the Loud sisters, who were unharmed.

"So, you do want to fight back… very well!" Mandark yelled. "So be it, Lisa Loud! We shall see if you are any better than my long-hated rival!"

The Dexbots dispersed, revealing the form of a kneeling Leni who was still clutching Lisa in her arms. The little genius tapped her sister, and when she finally moved her away from her chest enough to watch her, the young genius was unfortunately greeted by the sight of her teared-up face.

"Lisa…" Leni sniffed, her voice quavering with fear. "This… is not worth it."

Lisa closed her eyes and pinched her nose. "It  _is_  worth at least a try. Too much could be lost if I let the madman on the loose… and I won't just watch as he does his business. Leni… this is dangerous, indeed. And that is why I ask you to leave. Go as far as you can, leave the laboratory even. Ask Computer for instructions where to go, if you need them."

"Lisa…"

"No, Leni," Lisa pushed Leni's hands away from her until she finally let go of her. "You are not going to convince me otherwise. One day, you, our siblings and parental units, even the world will all understand my decision… but for now, you will let me deal with Mandark. Computer! How much time before the second wave of reinforcements is arriving?"

"Five minutes, Dexter," Computer replied. "However, my sensors have detected various unidentified objects approaching the laboratory, most probably the breaches that were opened by Mandark. I theorize he's prepared for a possible setback beforehand, and that _his own_ reinforcements will come to his aid within minutes."

"Send whatever you can to stop the new drones from entering the laboratory. Turrets, robots, whatever you can control or has auto-pilot will do," Lisa said. "If everything goes according to plan, we should be able to disperse his forces before he can do any real damage."

"Acknowledged, Dexter. Standing by."

Lisa walked forward. She was already fully focused on her current task, and as many times before in the Loud House it would have taken her more than a simple call to get her attention from it.

All Leni could do as she saw her point a finger at Mandark and the machines around her flex their articulations, was to hope. Hope that Lisa knew what she was doing, and that she'd be able to beat the bad guy.

Because she didn't want to think about what could happen in case  _she was the one beaten._

* * *

Clyde McBride was no stranger to strangeness. With a friend like Lincoln Loud, he had lived through quite a number of misadventures, thanks to the presence of Lincoln's ten sisters among other things, and he had learned to keep his cool with time with everything that did not have to do with Lori. And he was getting better with her as well!

Thus, when Lincoln had called him with his walkie-talkie and requested his presence with urgency, Clyde had not thought too much about it. He wasn't even that preoccupied about the reason behind the call, even after Lincoln had simply avoided his question about it with a fast 'you'll only believe it when you'll see it'.

Right then, Clyde was walking down the curb of the road that brought to the Loud residence, thinking about what could have possibly happened there that had made Lincoln call for his help. It could be anything really, from a conflict with one of his sisters (or more than one), to a general issue not directly linked to his family, like school work, or even a surprise that Lincoln wanted to keep until his best friend was there.

Clyde chuckled to the various hypothesises that ran through his mind. With the Louds he couldn't be totally sure about what he could expect.

But even so, when he finally got near the Loud residence and noticed that there was a  _spaceship_ parked in front of the house, his mouth  _still_  opened in shock.

"Wha…?"

Nope. Not even batting his eyes twice worked: the spaceship, or whatever the vehicle was, was still there, with quite a handful of people moving around it. As Clyde mechanically walked nearer and nearer, he managed to recognize the faces of the Loud children, except for two unknown kids.

"Clyde!" Lincoln called, once he saw his friend walking over. He was on the top of the 'ship' of sorts—now that he was near, Clyde had to admit that it looked more like a generic hovership rather than a vehicle built to travel into space, but that did not help with the absurdity of the image—and he jumped down, abandoning whatever he was doing, to come and greet his friend. "Thank you for coming, buddy. We can use another hand here."

"Lincoln… what's going on?" Clyde asked, eyes still fixed on the futuristic vehicle.

"Oh, yeah, right, I should explain. Listen Clyde, we had a problem today, and long story short, we need to leave as soon as possible. We're helping that short kid you see on the ship who's giving orders to my sisters," Lincoln explained, pointing at the kid in question. Clyde followed his motion and, indeed, he saw a red-haired young child with glasses and a lab coat barking orders here and there. Lincoln's sisters didn't seem too keen on the guy, but for some reason they continued to execute his instructions without arguing.

"I can see that… but, why? What's the problem?" Clyde asked, looking at Lincoln with puzzlement. "I'm sorry, but I think I'm missing the point here."

Lincoln sighed. "It's Lisa and Leni, Clyde. They disappeared today, and in their place we found that guy and his sister. At first, we thought they had a role in their disappearance and were up to no good, but apparently there was an accident that somehow made them switch places with my own sisters. Don't ask me how that is even possible…"

Clyde wasn't particularly disturbed by the revelation. At least, since he knew Lisa and what she had been capable to do, he had an idea of what science could do when in the hands of particularly skilled people, and he could tell the redhead kid was skilled given the meticulous way he was instructing the Louds. "No, I won't," he replied, "but then, are Leni and Lisa okay? You're gonna go get them with this guy? He seems to be in a hurry."

"We all are, Clyde," Lincoln said gravely. "The genius here, Dexter is his name, has a rival of sorts who fights with him regularly. He attacked his place  _now,_ and he believes that Lisa and Leni are there as well. They're in  _trouble,_ Clyde."

It was a little hard at first for the dark-skinned kid to take the full story seriously. Yet, Lincoln's face showed actual concern, and when Luna and Luan batted a hammer on the ship's back propulsors, under Dexter's orders, and the engines briefly turned on with a whirr, he lost any reason to continue doubting.

"Well, if that's not an adventure worth of Ace Savvy, I don't know what one could be. I'm in, buddy," Clyde said, putting a hand on Lincoln's shoulder when he saw that the child had lowered his gaze to the ground. "Just tell me what to do and I'll help you find your two sisters in no time."

Lincoln smiled. "We just have to tell Dexter if he needs anything specific done and then you can get to—"

"Hello!"

Clyde and Lincoln jumped in the air at the unannounced salute from behind. When they turned around they did not find Lucy though. Instead, they found Lily, in the arms of no one but a happy-looking girl with blonde hair in pigtails.

"Hello!" the girl repeated. "I'm DeeDee, Dexter's sister!"

" _Moronic sister, to be precise!"_ a voice added from the ship.

DeeDee stuck her tongue out at her brother, then turned her attention back to Clyde and Lincoln. "Sorry to bother you, can you keep your little sister, please? I tried to socialize with her, but she doesn't seem to be too much happy about it…"

Which was a euphemism, given that Lily was  _frowning._ "Well, she's not crying or blabbering baby insults at you, so that's a good start I guess," Clyde noted as Lincoln received Lily. The baby's demeanour immediately shifted back to a better mood, hugging her brother warmly.

"She'll get used to you with time. You can't say you had the best introduction with her," Lincoln said.

DeeDee grinned. "I hope so! See ya'!" she exclaimed before hopping away from them and towards the ship. "Uuhh… why isn't she worried or what? Even his brother looks bothered."

"No idea," Lincoln said. "I guess that she's a combination of Luna's, Luan's and Lynn's happiest sides. I think she's not half bad."

Before Clyde and Lincoln could walk to him and ask him instructions, Dexter suddenly raised a hand and shouted an announcement.

" _We're leaving!"_

Clyde raised its eyebrows as Lincoln's eyes widened. "Huh? Already?"

The Loud sisters echoed the boy's reaction.

"What!?"

"But there's no roof!"

"How is this thing even taking off?!"

"Less talking and more moving, women!" Dexter replied with a calmer tone. "I say when my creation can take off, and I say that now this one can… and I won't waste more time here than needed! My lab's safety is at stake!"

Lincoln, Lily and Clyde approached the Louds as DeeDee immediately jumped into the seat over the hovership nearest to her brother, much to Dexter's chagrin. As the two of them started to argue about where she was supposed to sit down, the Louds mumbled to themselves, not sure about they wanted to trust the boy's judgement about the ship they had just built, which looked almost like a skeleton rather than a fully finished product.

Then, the memory of what was their personal reason behind collaborating with Dexter returned to them when the vehicle's internal computer, which had been built with a combination of the surviving Cheapbots by Dexter himself, started another report.

"Computer has received instructions from an unknown party inside the laboratory. She has sent detainment squads to keep Mandark's reinforcements occupied, while Mandark himself is fighting with more of the lab's defence bots inside. Whoever is controlling everything is managing to keep him a bay, at least for the time being. Computer is however yet to determine for how long they will be able to bear the attacks."

Dexter was less than happy to hear that. "You heard the news! Get over here, now!" he ordered, the thought of his belongings being zapped into nothingness by his rival making his head ache. He expected the Louds to beat around the bush for a few more seconds, but instead when he turned around he found them already embarking over the ship.

As Lincoln handed Lily over to Lori, Lincoln looked at Clyde. "I thought we were gonna need more time to build this thing, Clyde, but we're already good. Thanks for coming."

Clyde looked at him questioningly. "Lincoln… do you need some help? I mean… wherever you're going?"

Lincoln froze before he could grab Lori's hand to be hauled on the ship. "Uh… I… don't know?"

"Get him on, too," Dexter leaned over from the edge of the ship, studying Clyde. "I believe that a better presence of the male gender in this squad is going to be beneficial for our cause. And be quick about it!"

As Clyde and Lincoln smiled (and Luna leaned over to pull Clyde over, since there was no way Lori could do that without making the kid faint in the process) the Loud sisters glared at Dexter, who simply ignored them and started to mess with the crude control panel in front of him. Lynn, though, was not known for her patience, and before anyone could stop her she leaned forward from her seat between Dexter and DeeDee.

"Who do you think you are, four-eyes?" she said, "Anything against us? If you want, I can give you a beating worth of the 'female gender'…"

"Nothing less than pure experience," Dexter simply replied, giving a side glance to DeeDee who was humming a motive, once again in her own world. "Also, I'd suggest to sit down and brace yourself."

"Experience? What are you talking about—wait, what did you s— _woah!"_ Lynn was too slow in following Dexter's line of thought. The boy pressed a button that finally made the engines behind them turn on, then he grabbed the joystick and pushed forward.

The ship bolted in the air, reaching a high speed in an absurdly short time, the Loud children screaming in fright (with Lynn hanging on her seat's edge for dear life) while DeeDee let out an excited 'weeee!'.

* * *

Bobby was just going to give the change to the new customer of his family's bodega when an extremely loud noise comparable to a jet plane crossing the sound's barrier just outside the building almost made him change skin colour, while the entire shop shook as if an earthquake had struck the city.

"Gah! That was close!" Bobby commented once the surprise wore off. He realized that he still needed to serve the customer. "Oh, sorry about that, here's your—huh?"

The customer was nowhere to be seen. Bobby simply noticed the exit door swinging aimlessly and he heard a faint screaming in the distance.

"Mh… guess he wanted me to keep the change," Bobby shrugged. "Who knows what kind of weird drill the Air Force is doing this time."

* * *

 

"What do you mean  _half an hour?"_

"I'd go faster if I had a better vehicle, but I don't, and we couldn't waste more time converting this thing into an open-wheel racing car. This is the best we can do to save time," Dexter said, his eyes fixed on the scenery before him as he followed the crude radar's indications on the panel to move towards his hometown. "Therefore, hush and let me drive in peace woman!"

Lynn would have  _really_ liked to pick up the kid by his hair and throw him off the ship, but she relented before she could follow with her idea. "She doesn't deserve it, dude," Luna said, making her turn around to face her. "Just ignore him. We're doing this for Leni and Lisa, remember?"

Lynn bit her lip and grumbled under his breath, but nonetheless moved away from the front seats to return to her own.

"Wow, talk about friendliness," Clyde said. "I wonder how it is even possible for  _her_ to be his sister."

Lincoln looked at DeeDee, who was trying to lift the mood of the Loud sisters by chatting happily with them. However, despite her bright behaviour, her attempts were not working that much, since most of the Loud sisters were still sour from the current situation. She had apparently no intention to stop anytime soon, in any case.

"I see where you're going with that," Lincoln replied. "I just hope he's indeed going as fast as he can."

"Linc?"

Lincoln looked at Lana. Beyond her, Lincoln could see Lola and Lucy looking sideways at him, and he guessed that the plumber enthusiast had been chosen to be the one to talk for all of them. "Do you think that we'll make it? That we'll get to Leni and Lisa before it's, uh… too late?"

For a moment, Lincoln didn't know how to answer. How could he? He was literally riding a hovership built out of scraps found in his house with his family, driven by a crazy young scientist. How could he even imagine how thing could go?

Yet, he couldn't just refuse to talk. If anything, Lana's puppy dog eyes were very effective, and Lola's pleading face as well as Lucy's subtle glances made him decide that he needed to reassure them.

"Yes, we will. The guy on the front seat does act like a jerk, but he knows what he's doing and he'll bring us to them in no time. You don't have to worry about that."

Lana's face softened and she smiled gratefully, then she turned around and started to whisper animatedly with her twin, Lucy listening in silence to their speech.

"Hey. I really hope you are right, little brother," Luan said, leaning over from beside Clyde. "I can't even think of a good joke to keep the morale high right now."

"The answer is no one, Luan," Lori said, leaning over the back of her seat. "We are here for one reason, and we will  _literally_ carry it through to the end before anything can happen to Leni or Lisa."

Lincoln nodded, while neither of them was disturbed by Clyde taking out his emergency breathing bag and using it to calm himself down. That was standard procedure, by then. "We'll save them."

"Drats!"

Dexter's sudden exclamation gained the full attention of the passengers of the flight. "Drats-what, twerp!?" Lori demanded.

"Computer is not programmed to handle this big of a battle without proper help from me," Dexter said. "Mandark's forces are starting to get the best of her. If we can't make it in time, he'll overwhelm my laboratory! And I can't reach out to her, I have not enough signal from here yet! Ugh… I have no choice left."

DeeDee's pigtails suddenly jerked up as if they were antennae. "Dexter? You are not going to do what I think you're doing?"

Dexter sighed. "Buckle up," he said to everyone. "This might hurt."

Before the Louds could protest or even demand him to tell them what he was going to do, Dexter pressed a button under the main panel, and the afterburner was activated.

* * *

"Is that all you can do, Loud? I am starting to get bored here!"

Lisa did not reply. Let him boast as much as he wanted, she was too much preoccupied shouting orders and trying not to get zapped by Mandark's drones. "Now! Left flank!" she said before raising the energy rifle that one of the bots had handed her and firing back at the nearest drone. A couple of Dexbots emerged from the darkened corners of the laboratory and leaped at another drone, slicing him in half with a surprise attack.

Mandark was not pleased with the move. "That was  _another_ mistake!" he shouted before moving a hand, and the remaining drones blasted the Dexbots and turned them into two piles of ash. "You can't keep it up, Loud! Computer can only do so much to help you and deal with the rest of my creation at the same time, and I know it!"

"Back! Four, full assault!" was Lisa's reply, and Mandark suddenly heard explosions behind him as four additional bots rushed into action, pushing through the lines of his drones. He had to admit, the Loud girl was mowing down a notable amount of his creations… but he still had the upper hand, as far as numbers went.

He turned around and grinned before closing the hatch of the warbot he was using as his personal armour suit. He, therefore, leaped at the four bots before they could do more damage and punched one right in the chest. The metallic hand of the armoured robot went right through Dexter's bot, which fizzled for a moment before turning off, then Mandark loaded up the machine gun hidden in the other arm and used it to turn two of the remaining bots into Swiss cheese.

The last bot jumped over Mandark and tried to land over him, but the villain was swift in moving aside. When the bot landed, he used the first bot as a bat and swung hard and struck the attacking one with one hit, sending him into a nearby set of machinery which exploded in millions of pieces.

Lisa could only gape as the section of the laboratory was filled with the red colours of the flames erupting from the wreckage, the image being visible as a reflection on her glasses. "You can't stop me from achieving my long time goal, Loud!" Mandark said, removing the robot remains from his warbot and turning back towards her. "I'm feeling tolerant today, so I'll give you another chance. Get out of here and don't ever let me see your face, and I will not vaporize you!"

"Dexter, Mandark forces are overpowering our outer defences. I need instructions on how to proceed. I've quarantined all sub-sectors of section E, but I won't be able to—"

"I will give you five seconds, and if you have not disappeared after the counter has ended—"

"What is the next order, Dex—"

"Five! Four! Three—"

Lisa closed her eyes and let go of the energy rifle, covering her ears and looking down in distress. Mandark stopped his countdown when he noticed, grinning at her reaction. "You are too young to handle even a sub-par laboratory like this one… let alone a  _real_  one like mine. You can't stop the inevitable: go home, Lisa Loud."

"I… am not going anywhere, not in the present time and not in the near future!" Lisa rebutted, raising her head to bear Mandark's gaze. "I stand by my words. I will prevent you from doing any more damage!"

Mandark chortled in amusement. "Then, it's sealed. You do want to be vaporized. Oh, well, you had your chance…"

Lisa momentarily took off her glasses and scratched her eyes. She had an annoying migraine that was getting worse and worse as the fight went on, and even her quick-thinking mind had been put to the test as she battled with Mandark and sent orders to Computer at the same time. She indeed didn't expect the villain-fighting business to be that much tiring.

Now she knew what Lincoln found so impressive in those comic books he was interested in.

She also knew that Mandark had a point, as bad as that was. She was getting nowhere, and at this rate she'd end up being beaten to a pulp in no time. There was only one way to win, and this was taking out the enemy with a single, fast move.

"Computer, please tell me you have something better for me than a couple of energy guns that look anything but designed for a four-year-old…" Lisa said, putting her glasses back on and looking warily at Mandark, who was still busy in a monologue describing the several ways he was going to destroy her.

"I have item #257 nearby, Dexter," Computer replied, "it's the best I can send you without taking robot-power away from the skirmishes with the rest of Mandark's forces."

"It'll have to do," Lisa said, hoping she remembered well from her fast review of the lab's capabilities hours before what item #257 exactly was. "Get every bot waiting in the surroundings to attack  _all at once,_ then focus your efforts on the outer battles."

Computer did not answer right away. "Shouldn't I let—?"

"I have to cut the head of the undead, as my brother—I mean, a friend of mine would say," Lisa cut short. "I repeat, try not to let any more attackers reach me and him.  _I_  will handle Mandark."

"It will be done," Computer said, as Mandark finally ended his speech. "…and that's why you'll need your family to dig a grave for your remains, if there are ever any to be found once I'll be done with you!"

"As much as I suspect one of my sisters would gladly do so, I'm afraid she'll have to do without actual corpses," Lisa replied, kicking the rifle away from her and walking towards him.

From inside the pilot seat inside the armoured suit, Mandark raised an eyebrow, unsure how to interpret the approaching girl's decision to walk towards him unarmed. "What? Are you going to give yourself to me? If surrendering is your plan, I'm afraid the direction is the opposite one, and that is an option I've already decided to discard!"

Mandark's armoured suit put itself in battle stance, as the drones around him aimed their weapons at Lisa. "Let's get this over with."

"Correction, Mandark," Lisa said. Mandark heard the noise of a rocked flying right behind Lisa, and expecting a surprise attack, he moved the arms of his suit to protect himself.

No missile went to target him, though: the flying object was a rocket backpack that went straight for Lisa's back. It disassembled a moment before reaching her, and as Mandark looked at her he could see the backpack latch on her, belts closing around her body.

Then, the backpack ejected four mechanical limbs that quickly expanded, mimicking two bulky arms and legs. The contraption then offered Lisa two joysticks for her hands and pedals for her feet, which she promptly accepted.

The exoskeleton then stood on the ground, fully prepared for battle, as Mandark clapped his hands. "The Dexo-transformer. Impressive… how cute of you."

" _Now!"_ Lisa shouted, before rushing forward with her new gear. Mandark's evil smile turned into a mystified grimace as the Dexbots hiding all around him and his last drones appeared, charging head on. He narrowed his eyes and made his robot suit snap his fingers.

The drones opened fire just before the Dexbots could reach them. The laboratory was invaded by the noise of clashing metal, explosion and electrical malfunctions, as Mandark himself started to tear apart every bot that managed to reach him effortlessly.

Lisa, on the other hand, was having a bit of a problem handling the exoskeleton. "Whoa!" she let out as she lost the equilibrium and fell down, just before a drone could slice her in two with a metallic blade. Panting, Lisa pushed a pedal down and the corresponding foot of the suit hit the drone, sending it into a no-return journey with an explosive ending. Then, she stood up and barely had the time to block another drone from hitting her in the face.

' _After much thought, I have to conclude: he is no joke,'_ she thought as she managed to land a powerful punch that downed the second drone. Then, as around her the battle raged on, she finally spotted Mandark.

Three Dexbots were about to get the better of him, holding him by the arms of the robot. Just as she was going to sprint for him, Mandark suddenly roared in anger, his robot managing to raise the three bots in the air. Then, lasers suddenly came out of his hands, cutting a hole into two of the bots and obliterating the third one right after.

Lisa froze, as Mandark freed himself from the disabled robots, displaying the strength of his own warbot. For a moment, the four-year-old could do nothing but stand where she was, frightened and entrapped by the sight at the same time.

Then, Mandark finally took notice of her presence. "LISA LOUD!" he bellowed before his bot started to run, finally unlocking the young genius from her trance. Letting out a breath, Lisa flexed her arms and waited where she was.

Just as Mandark lifted one mechanical arm to strike, she jumped out of the way, letting him go forward with a stumble and giving her all the time she wanted to land a strike of her own.

But as she was about to turn around and make her move, she suddenly felt various impacts on the back of the exoskeleton, along with the noise of bolts taking off and short-circuiting electricity.

"Not bad, Lisa Loud, but you failed to see the  _big picture!"_ Mandark said. Lisa could only watch the drone that had shot at her for a moment before one of the Dexbots could tackle it. Gritting her teeth, she tested the functionality of the exoskeleton only to discover that it still moved… albeit with than a twitch or two, and a quarter of the speed.

"Tsk. Playing hero was not something you should have put yourself into, toddler," Mandark said as she approached her. "It's a pity, you could have made great things, I guess, and with some effort you may have been able to outmatch my rival. But indeed, you were not enough smart to realize how foolish the decision to oppose me was."

When Mandark was at arms' stretch, Lisa attempted to land a hook on him, but he easily grabbed the robotic arm before she could hit him. "Still fighting? I know this gear you're using better than you. Dexter has always managed to work with it because he knew how to use it, I'll give him that, but it's still scrap. One part out of the place, and the entire system…" with a powerful pull, he tore the arm off from the main body of the exoskeleton. "…crumbles like a uranium atom reaching the end of its half-life."

Then, without notice, Mandark smacked Lisa away, who started to roll on the floor as the exoskeleton continued fall apart. Eventually, her skid came to a halt.

The fighting noises had long since stopped. There were only a handful of drones still standing, showing a sort of pyrrhic victory, but Mandark didn't seem to mind as he enjoyed the sight of the defeated Loud sister. Lisa was wheezing and gripping on her chest, apparently out of breath, the exoskeleton nowhere to be seen apart from fragments dispersed on the floor around her. Her glasses were cracked, and one of her cheeks sported a bad-looking bruise.

"There. That is what you really are. A scared, little kid… what is even your age? Four years old?" Mandark gloated. "Ha. And to think you actually believed you could stand a chance.  _Puah."_

Thus, he started to walk forward.

Lisa finally managed to lift her head from the floor, only to see the villain get nearer and nearer with its ominous looking robot through her cracked glasses. Her mind raced, trying to find a solution to her current predicament, and her eyes widened when she came to the only possible conclusion.

She had depleted every option available. She had been defeated.

 _She_   _had failed._

Mandark smirked when he saw her face contort as she scrambled back. "Now, that is one way to see your foe defeated!"

He aimed one arm at Lisa and opened its hand, revealing the muzzle of the laser gun. No more able to continue to look at the towering robot, Lisa simply closed her eyes and curled into a ball, trying to stifle down the hiccups that were slowly making their way into her and the consequent desire to cry along with them.

" _Hold it right there!"_

Lisa's eyes shot open.

" _Leni?!"_

Leni was standing right between her and Mandark. "You aren't going to hurt my sister, young man inside a terrifying robot!"

Even Mandark looked confused. "DeeD—I mean, Leni Loud!" he said, trying to digest the sudden appearance of the teenager. "Could you, uh, kindly move aside so that I can disintegrate your sister?"

Leni gulped but did not move. "Well, I'm sorry but I can't do that! Even if I have no idea why you want to disinfect her, I can tell you're up to no good!"

Mandark shook his head. "I said 'disinte'— wait, I'm wasting my time here!" he growled. He once again readied the laser weapon and point it at the blonde teenager. "Don't make me ruin such a beautiful face if there is no need to! Your sister made a mistake and she has to pay for it!"

Lisa was thoroughly impressed by Leni as she refused once again to move even one centimetre away. But even so, her act fully convinced her that she was completely out of her mind.

"Leni, what on Earth and everything that lives and lived over it are you  _doing?!_  Get out of here!"

Leni looked behind her shoulder. "No, can't do, Lisa. You said you were going to handle it, and this is the result of me letting you do so. I already did a mistake, and I won't make another! Now we will leave this place and go home, whether you like it or not!"

"…no, Leni, you don't understand! Get  _out_ of  _here!"_  Lisa stood up and started to agitate her hands. "You can't do this! You aren't physically able to do this!"

Leni turned towards her and crossed her hands. "Now, I may have tolerated your rudeness up until now, but this is too much. We've been away from home for too long, anyway, and I won't let you play the science master with the guy behind me if that ends up hurting you! Now, about you, Mandrake, it's time to let… things… go?"

Mandark had no intention to satisfy Leni's request. While she was scolding Lisa, he had retracted his laser gun only to quietly approach her with the robot hand. Leni only managed to say 'go' before Mandark abruptly snatched her, lifting her from the ground.

Mandark had only eyes for Lisa as Leni started to scream, even if his speech was directed at her at first. "Forgive me, beautiful one, but I couldn't help but notice that your younger sister here was rather… disturbed by your appearance. As if, she was  _worried sick_ that something bad could happen to you."

The robot's front hatch opened, revealing the demented face of Mandark. "That is… a surprise. All your talk about defending science by fighting me, and then  _this?"_ he said, his voice showing sincere bewilderment. "I did not expect that. You are a strange case, Lisa Loud."

Lisa's face couldn't have been more overflowing with rage. "Let… go. Of  _her!"_

"And why should I? I could just atomize the both of you, in fact," Mandark said. He looked at Leni, who was still screaming and trying to pry herself out of his grasp with no luck. "Oh, isn't she pretty?"

A tiny tube suddenly materialized from the seat, reached Mandark's side and sprayed some water on his cheek. Mandark muttered something under his breath, glaring at the small contraption, then he smiled. "But in any case, I repeat. Why should I? You have been defeated. You have failed to protect this laboratory. You are a living disgrace to the category you say you're a part of, and after all of that I should listen to you, after all you've done to help my rival?"

He laughed out Loud as Lisa looked down in shame. "Not even a meteor from the sky could help you now, and down here we both know that's impossible! No, this is the day I'll finally have my revenge, and you will not stop me! Ha ha-ha! Ha ha-ha ha… _ha?"_

The ceiling of the laboratory suddenly opened up, letting the sunlight light up the entire section of the facility. Over them, there was a long tunnel that reached the surface. Lisa, Leni and Mandark could all look at the blue sky far away, more or less all confused by the sight.

Then, what looked like a meteor suddenly entered the laboratory through the tunnel… moving right towards them.


	5. The Loud Factor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay. I've been busy lately, with things to do piling up one over the other, but I didn't want to rush this update as well, so I needed more time than I thought. This is the closing chapter, so as usual I hope you've enjoyed this little fic of mine. Thanks for reading!

Mandark tried to jump away… keyword being 'tried'. Whatever that thing was, it was too fast for him to evade: all he managed to do before being ran over was slightly turning around of a few degrees.

Lisa was thankful of her limited size, as she only needed to throw herself on the ground and keep lying down to not be hit. Behind her, she felt the heat as well as the disturbing noise of metal scraping the laboratory's surface and wrapping around itself, and for once the fright and surprise had the better of her and kept her fixed on the floor.

It took her a few more seconds to remember that Mandark, who had just been rammed by a 'meteor' or whatever that thing was, was holding _someone_  right before being hit.

' _Leni!'_

Lisa sprang up on her legs to look at what happened. At about fifty meters or so away from her was the wreckage of the impact. Lisa could immediately notice that the 'meteor' was actually a vehicle of sorts, but her mind was too distracted to think too much about it as she began scanning the surroundings in search of her elder sister.

And eventually, she found her. Lying on the floor.

" _Leni!"_  Lisa called, rushing towards her. Her light steps echoed around the laboratory, which had suddenly fallen in silence, the remaining mechanical servants of Mandark staying immobile where they were in wait. Lisa payed them little to no attention.

In no time she was beside her. "Leni! Hey!" Lisa called once again, trying to shake her. Leni had a long bruise that ran across her right forearm, as well as a bad abrasion on her right cheek, and she seemed out-cold. Leni might have been unknowingly thrown away by Mandark due to the force of the impact, but Lisa's mind was too clouded to realize it.

The four-year-old immediately went to listen to Leni's breath, and she was relieved to find that she could feel the air still coming out of her mouth. That didn't help much though with the fact that she was out cold and hurt, of course. "Leni, I command you!" she said, grabbing Leni's shoulders and shaking her. "Rise and shine!"

No answer.

"…Leni?" Lisa inadvertently repeated her name a bit less angrily. She was still breathing, right? That meant she was still alive. That was a fact, and she couldn't deny facts.

A tiny little voice in her head suddenly shouted,  _'forget about facts!'_

Lisa closed her eyes. No, that was not happening. She was okay… a couple of scratches weren't going to do much. She was going to survive. That was it. She didn't have to lose control and—

"Lisa?"

Lisa eyes shot open to look at her elder sister. "Lisa… What happened? Sorry… I feel a little dizzy… are you all right?"

' _Are you all right?'_

Leni had been just hurled out by the grasp of a hulking robot, and here she was worried about  _her sister's safety_ instead of her own.

That… was it.

"What… kind of idiot do you think you are?!" Lisa yelled, startling Leni. "Going alone to face a combat-ready mech?!"

Leni had a terrible headache that prevented her to fully think straight, but Lisa's exclamation helped her in remembering at least part of what was going on before she lost her senses. Her face visibly paled, but even so she did not gasp and she bore her angry sister's glare.

"I wasn't going to leave you alone there, silly," she said matter-of-factly. "You don't have to get that angry."

"But... that's preposterous! Why would you… but then…" one could almost see the gears rotating in Lisa's head, trying to comprehend why Leni would choose to act so heedless of her own safety.

Leni sat up and she frowned as her sore arm suddenly reminded her that she had not reached that position without consequences. Her eyes did not leave Lisa for one second, though.

"I still think that we should have left when we could, but that is no excuse for abandoning you, especially with that monster-robot thing roaming around. No, Lisa, that thing was  _not_  going to hurt you, not if I could do something about it. That's what family is for, after all: what kind of sister would I be if I didn't look out for you?"

The young genius continued to stare at Leni in astonishment before suddenly turning around. Leni wasn't sure what was on her little sister's mind right now, but she did have a bit of knowledge in body language to understand that Lisa wasn't okay. With the sudden hiccups, the hands clenched into fists and such.

"Hey, there," she said, cautiously moving a hand to touch her shoulder. As soon as Leni's index touched Lisa's shirt, the little girl flinched. "Lisa, look at me."

Lisa slowly complied, and when Leni finally saw her face, she immediately knew what she had to do.

"Come here… there, easy, it's okay," she said as she softly took Lisa's hand. Lisa, sniffing, squeezed it and followed her lead until she was sitting right on Leni's lap. Her sister took the liberty of taking her damaged glasses out, and once that was done Lisa buried her face into her chest, hugging her.

She wasn't bawling her eyes out, but it was clear with the hiccups and the occasional sobs she failed to stifle that she was crying. Leni didn't mind. She simply let her have her moment, caressing her back, and for an entire minute no one of them said anything.

"For your… information," Lisa's muffled voice said. "I am not letting myself be controlled by emotions, but—  _*hiccup*…_ on the other hand, I am simply, uh, undermining a few internal nuisances that are bothering me at the present time."

Leni smiled. She had actually just understood the words 'emotions' and 'bothering', but she didn't need the full sentence to get the gist of it.

"Of course you are."

* * *

Dexter groaned. "Another happy landing…"

He pushed the disintegrated remains of what used to be the control panel of the hovership away from himself and stood up to look around and check who had survived the slightly unexpected event.

"Wow, that was fun!" DeeDee suddenly tweeted, literally springing out of the wreckage and starting to bounce around. "Nice ride, Dexter! And we're back home as well!"

' _Of course, of all people she's the one with still enough energy to annoy me…'_ Dexter thought, passing a hand over his face in exasperation. Resorting to just ignoring her, Dexter gave a fast scan of his surroundings in search of the other occupants. "If anyone of the passengers of the ship are still alive," he eventually announced, "I'd like to see you raise your hand."

"I'll do  _more_ than raise my hand,you little  _twerp!"_  a voice roared, followed by a hellish creature emerging from the remains right in front of Dexter. The genius boy screamed in fright and retreated, only to realize that the creature was in fact a very mad Lori Loud.

"Hold on, sis, remember why we're here…" Luna said, crawling out of what used to be her seat just in time to stop her from leaping at the boy genius. "Dudes? Are you all right?"

"No problem! After all, I've been to comedy skits that  _crashed_ way harder than this, haha!"

"I'm in still one piece. At least, I guess I am... Dang, this was harder than being piled up in a football match."

"I'm  _not_ in one piece, but I think I can survive…"

"I second that, buddy."

"I am still of this world, though with enough aches to make a corpse redden in envy."

"I knew this was going to be a bad idea!"

"For once, I agree with Lola! That boy is out of his mind!"

"Uugh…. Poo-poo…"

"Uh-oh… guys, watch out!"

Dexter grimaced as Lily Loud emptied her stomach, the Louds struggling to evade the barf. "Thankfully I have cleaning procedures already active for my biology tests…" he muttered, then he looked elsewhere.

His landing had made him and his crew end their travel with a massive crash on one of the laboratory's side walls, it seemed, which was something Dexter appreciated. What he didn't appreciate, though, were the signs of a past battle that he could see around him: he recognized the metal plates of his own Dexbots along with the dark red steel that that was the specific material used by Mandark to build his drones. The lab equipment in this section had suffered considerable damage, and further ahead he could even see a small group of his rival's bots… standing idly.

When he looked back towards the wreckage, Dexter noticed a giant armoured suit partially hidden among the wreckage, and he put two and two together.  _"Ha-ah!"_  he shouted triumphantly, unaware that Mandark was momentarily unconscious, "Mandark! As you can see, I have returned, and—"

" _Leni?!"_

Dexter turned around, annoyed by the sudden interruption, but his attention was ultimately adverted from his nemesis. The white-haired kid had just uttered the name and had immediately silenced the rest of his sisters and his friend. Lincoln, trembling, slowly pointed a hand towards the form of someone sitting on the ground.

"LENI!" the Louds cried together as they started to run. "LISA!"

Dexter had to admit it—as much as he didn't care that much about this family's personal affairs, he was somewhat curious to know who had manned his lab during his absence and had effectively stalled Mandark… going all the way down to have Computer believe he had changed clothes, hair colour and gender as well.

Yes, he was definitely going to give the AI a few fixes after this mess was done with.

He walked towards the group and halted some meters away from them. He ignored DeeDee as she stopped fooling around and walked beside him, apparently struck by the sight. He just gave a short order to Computer to keep Mandark in check and dispose of the remaining drones before he could take control of them again, then he waited, letting the Louds have their moment.

He may have been a man of other priorities, but he knew when to wait for his turn.

"Leni! Lisa! Are you all right?"

"Leni, what—oh my gosh, what happened to Lisa?!"

"Is she  _crying?"_

"Are you hurt? Leni, you are injured as well!"

" _Who_ did this to you? If I get my hands on him, I will—!"

"Guys, guys!" Leni had to shout to make her siblings stop blathering. "Keep it low. Lisa doesn't need this right now… and maybe I don't a little, too. Just, try not to talk all together, okay?"

Lori took hold of the situation by glaring at each of the nearby Louds, which ended up including Clyde. She rolled her eyes as he swooned in Lincoln's arms before looking back at Leni sternly. "You're right, but you literally have to tell us what happened regardless."

"Uuh, yeah…" Leni said as she tried to recall what had happened. Lisa didn't give any sign to greet her siblings, though she had stopped sobbing. "We've ended up here, and to be honest I didn't like it that much. It's all blue, grey or black around here, with lots of boring stuff and numbers! Lisa liked it, I know, but—"

"Dude…" Luna warned.

"Oh, right. Well, to put it simply, she wanted to stay here, I guess to play a little with the science-things that this place is full with, and before I could convince her to go home there are alarms going off everywhere and we're apparently being attacked, and Lisa decides to defend the place herself!"

"Wait… so, you're telling me she'd  _really_  gone and went to face on that Mandark guy the four-eyes has been talking about by her own will?"

"That is…  _*sniff*…_ correct," came Lisa's voice, who immediately took the attention of the rest of her siblings. Quietly, she separated herself from Leni and recomposed herself, dusting her clothes off and wiping her eyes before picking her glasses up back and putting them on. "Mandark had every intention to level this precious facility, and I decided to put a stop to it or at least slow him down."

"But, if he's anything like Dexter said he was, that means you've went and fought a full-fledged  _villain!"_ Lincoln exclaimed.

"That is correct… and, uh… it might not have been the best decision from me…" Lisa conceded, looking down. Most of the siblings were surprised to hear her shameful tone.

"I thought that my intellect would've been enough to stop Mandark, but instead… the villain, albeit weird, was not a complete fool, and he knew how to deal with the basic defences of this laboratory, while I found myself controlling a huge facility I didn't know it existed until a few hours ago." She looked over towards the wreckage, below which Mandark's armoured suit was buried. "If it wasn't for you… I don't want to imagine what kind of outcome my decision would've had."

"You don't have to," Leni added, passing a hand over Lisa's hair. Lisa frowned but did not protest. "The only thing that matters now is that we're all right and that we're all safe."

Lisa nodded, and a smile  _may_ have appeared on her face for a split-second. Not that he was going to admit it out-loud, but every one of the Louds and even Clyde didn't fail to notice that.

"Still, I hope you've learned your lesson, Lisa," Lori said, glaring at the four-year-old. "It's all fun while you're doing your experiments at home and kind of end up making the roof blow up twice a week, but putting yourself in danger for it is just stupid."

"You don't have to worry about it, elder sibling," Lisa replied, giving a sideways look to Leni. The same Leni that had put herself in danger  _for her sake._

"Believe me… I've learned  _more than that."_

"Great, because I sure am not going to do my math homework without your help! Heaven only knows what I would've done if—" Lola was interrupted by Lana elbowing her. At first the little girl considered jumping at her twin and attacking her, but after realizing that both her and the rest of her siblings were glaring at her she relented. "I mean… I'm happy to see you're all right, Lisa! I am  _very_  happy!"

"We all are, sis," Lynn said, making a step to come nearer to Lisa and brushing her hair, which was becoming more and more unkempt brush after brush. "You and Leni both."

"Oh, thank you!" Leni said sweetly, before trapping both Lynn and Lisa in a hug, initially to the surprise of both. Yet, it took them a couple of seconds to accept it and hug back, and soon all the remaining siblings joined them.

"You have to admit though, Lisa… this was quite the  _explosive_ experience, huh?" Luan failed to keep her mouth shut.

"Luan… for at least this once, try not to ruin the mood and simply enjoy the atmosphere, okay?" Of all the sisters, Luna seemed to be the one mostly annoyed by Luan's attempt at comedy during a family moment.

Luan shrugged but nonetheless smiled.

Clyde simply kept his distance, smiling at the display of affection he knew too well only the Louds could show… when they were not busy arguing and fighting each other, of course.

He heard a few steps behind himself to see Dexter and DeeDee walking by his sides. DeeDee stopped right there and trapped him a death-grip with one arm. Her eyes were literally sparkling with tears. "Oh my… I've never seen something so cute in my life!"

"…yeah, it is… but I'd still need… some space… to breathe, please!" Clyde protested, but unfortunately DeeDee didn't seem to hear him. It took the black-skinned boy a few more tries before the blonde girl even considered letting him go.

Meanwhile, Dexter continued to approach the Louds. Then, he slowly clapped his hands, successfully stopping the group hug.

"I am content that you eleven have managed to get reacquainted with each other," Dexter started. "I hope our short-lived collaboration remains short, though, for various reasons I'm not going to list here."

"I think we're not going to say anything against that," Lincoln said, crossing his arms with half-closed eyes.

"Very well. I only ask one thing…" Dexter continued, before looking specifically at two of the Louds. "Lisa Loud? Leni Loud?"

Lisa had been watching Dexter the entire time. Despite Computer's confusion, she had continued to believe that 'Dexter' had to be some kind of teenage scientist at least age-wise, one that simply liked working in secret with his parents not knowing anything about it. Thus, the sight of a young boy with red hair and size comparable to hers, with purple gloves, lab coat and black boots in place of the image she had thought to be more likely had had quite the effect on her.

At the mention of her name, though, Lisa passed a hand over her face to focus. She adjusted her glasses, tried to get her hair to at least stay down, then walked forward. Leni followed her as well.

"Normally I would be extremely annoyed by the thought of someone that is not me taking control of my laboratory," Dexter said, observing the two Louds. "However, what you did here was something that deserves recognition at least… you saved most of my precious laboratory from Mandark. That, I cannot ignore. Therefore, I would like to… uh?"

Dexter was distracted by Leni coming nearer. Before he could realize it, the sixteen-year old was pinching her cheek.

"Aww, he is so cute! He looks like a boy version of Lisa!" Leni exclaimed, giving a glance to her siblings behind her.

"Agreed on the similarities with Lisa. Disagree with the 'cute' part," Lucy replied.

"Yeah, that guy's a complete jerk, Leni!" Lana exclaimed. "He built an entire robot army to fight us!"

"But we fought back! You  _just had to see_  how many canheads I smashed! I think I have the highest kill count, actually!" Lynn boasted.

"He  _did?_ Why would he, he doesn't seem like…" Leni looked back at Dexter to see that his face was a mask of anger and his eyes were on fire. "…that?" she concluded, retracting her hand as if Dexter was a spider.

"Oh, don't think about it too much!" DeeDee barged into the conversation, taking hold of Dexter. "Dexter's a cool guy when he wants to be!"

"…I appreciate your compliment, dear sister, but I still want you to  _get off_ me and  _leave me alone!"_

DeeDee pouted but nevertheless let him go. Dexter was visibly seething, but DeeDee giggled nevertheless, and soon Leni joined her as well.

"I do have to say, maybe he's not as patient as Lisa, but he's just too adorable!"

"I know right?! If only he let me dress him sometimes!"

Dexter rolled her eyes.  _'Of course, there had to be a grown-up version of DeeDee among them… oh well,'_  he thought before directing her attention to Lisa, who had been silent the entire time.

"So, I'll be brief. You have my thanks for taking care of my laboratory while I was away, and I am sorry for the conflicts that rose between me and your siblings concerning the accident my sister, and _only_  her, has caused."

"I… uh…" Lisa stammered. "…you're, urr… welcome."

Dexter nodded. "Forgive me if make a short observation, Lisa Loud. I had to use most of your materials and tools to build the hovership I used to get here… and the robots your sister mentioned. I have to admit, for a young  _girl_ who definitely has not access to the resources I have, I was impressed."

Following Dexter's speech while trying to accept his existence was proving to be hard. "Well… thank you. I do what I can, but the world of science is still very wide and there's still a lot of discover and work to do."

"Indeed," Dexter agreed. "Though, I also have to say that I was not impressed by the rough decisions you made with the way everything was organized."

Lisa's right eye twitched.

"I mean, there was almost no rule I could pin point to look through everything I needed, so I had to search manually each compartment in your room. Not to mention the debatable choices about your electronical devices… seriously, a laptop? How much computing power can you hope to use from such a thing?"

Lisa's confusion was gone in little time.

"And even if we didn't consider all of this, the general quality of your instruments isn't definitely up to par with my standards. So yeah, impressive yes… but still far from what I'd call 'good quality'"

Lisa considered her options. She could ask some of her more aggressive sisters to pounce on him, or she could do it herself.

Or maybe…

"Well, it is true that your standards are high, Dexter," Lisa replied calmly. "And you must know, I was amazed by your facility here when I first arrived. The size, the amount of scientific work that could be done here! It was something I never even dreamed of!"

"Why, thank you. It is indeed a wonder to beho—"

"But even so, there were some things around here that didn't convince me, not in the slightest."

Now it was Dexter's eye that twitched.

"My tools may not be pinpoint perfect, but interpretation of results is a big part of the scientific method after all. What I saw here, though, were a large array of machines and devices that carried out very different tasks with great accuracy… but at the cost of an overly complex laboratory, all in all."

"… _complex?"_ Dexter said through gritted teeth.

"Exactly," Lisa said, smiling at Dexter's reaction. "How good can a laboratory be if every single working area in it needs a one-hundred pages long entire manual to be read and understood before you can get to work on it? Not to mention that this was also the reason I wasn't able to control effectively most of your laboratory, thus failing to protect it fully and unfortunately letting Mandark destroy a couple of key sections."

"What—" Dexter stared at Lisa, wondering if she was joking or she was actually serious.

Lisa kept her ironic smile. "Frankly, how can you expect to accomplish much if you continue to add things without optimizing what you already have? If you keep making this facility bigger, it'll end up damaging the work flow and thus the amount of results you'll be able to get. Trust me, Dexter… Simplicity sometimes is key."

At this point, Dexter had had enough of this. "How do you even  _dare_ criticize my laboratory, woman?!" he blurted out. "I can perfectly make use of it  _by myself,_ and I perfectly know every  _single_  part of it, unlike you!"

"Yes, but you'll be surprised by how important cooperation, and therefore accessibility of your laboratory, can be," Lisa explained. "I learned that myself when I… had the chance to see how things worked in an actual scientific laboratory away from home. Also, to be honest…" she turned her head around to look at her siblings, who were all listening closely to her speech. "…right at home I had the best example of them all as well."

Before any of the Louds could 'aww' and thank Lisa, Dexter roared, "Nonsense! I can see you have no idea how an actual scientific research has to be carried out, so save your pathetic words! I won't tolerate—"

_Click!_

A flash diverted Dexter's attention away from Lisa. "What the—"

"That's perfect!" DeeDee squealed as Leni showed her the photo she had just taken with her smartphone. "I  _have_ to get a copy of this one!"

"I think I can send you one with the mail-thingy! Though I don't know if the mailman will be able to bring it to your computer…"

"What are you two doing?! Delete whatever you're talking about, right now!" Dexter protested, but Leni and DeeDee simply giggled and moved away while the boy started to run after them. The rest of the Louds laughed at the scene, and even Lisa let out a chuckle.

Yep, that Dexter guy was a little too much full of himself… but he did know a lot about science. He was… interesting. Yep… definitely interest—

"Lisa?"

"What, who, when—oh, Lori," Lisa blabbered, not expecting Lori's interruption. "What is your will, elder sister?"

"Nothing in particular…" Lori said while smiling. Lisa could have sworn he heard more giggling behind her, but the few siblings he could see all wore poker faces. "We better be going… someway or another. Dunno if the boy here will give us some type of ride for the way back, but I think you and Leni have already gone through enough for today. We definitely need to give you some first aid."

Lisa suddenly realized that her tiny four-year-old body wasn't exactly built to withstand super-villain fighting. "I can't say you're wrong."

"DEXTER! LOUDS!"

Dexter, Leni and DeeDee immediately stopped running as Clyde and the other Louds looked in awe at Mandark. The villain managed to open the hatch of his disabled robot and climbed out of it, standing on the remains of the hovership. He glared at the group, before pointing a finger at them. "Don't you think you've won, folks! We have just started!"

"Forget about it, Mandark! You lost, once again!" Dexter replied with an appropriate-sounding tone. "You know well who has the upper hand here!"

"Fool! I have more drones than you can ever imagine at my hand, still waiting around the edges of your laboratory! It will take more than a pathetic kindergartener and her dumb older sister to stop me, Dexter!"

"Well, good thing that I am here now, because I sure won't let—huh?" Dexter felt a hand touching his arm.

"Forgive me if I stop your rival-to-rival speech duel, Dexter, but from now on we'll deal with it."

Dexter raised an eyebrow as he looked inquisitively at Lincoln. "You'll deal with him? And how do you think you'll do that? Why even?"

"Oh, it's very simple, Dexter," Clyde added, who was standing nearby. He was holding a frowning Lily in his arms, though the source of her distress wasn't Clyde nor Dexter. Beside him, Leni looked worriedly at the scene, while Lisa had a neutral face. "You should know that messing with one of the Louds can be a very big mistake."

Lincoln nodded before looking away from the redhead to watch Dexter's rival. "A very,  _very_  big one, Mandark."

"It was not a wise choice to hurt Lisa and Leni, smart-guy," Lynn said, flexing her arms.

"We don't care how bright you think you are, even!" Lola growled.

"'Cause after all, as smart as you can, you can't actually ignore  _pain,"_ Lana specified.

"And I can assure you, you'll need more than a clever joke to get out of this!" Luan said.

"You've actually earned quite an enlightening lesson about that,  _twerp,"_  Lori hissed.

"So, get ready, dude, because we'll be rocking more than you could ever imagine!" Luna declared.

"May I suggest a fast funeral ceremony for you before you're beaten to a pulp?" Lucy ended.

As the eight Loud siblings approached him, Mandark couldn't help but gulp.

And for once, Dexter had to admit that the Louds he had the chance to meet right after the incident with the time machine weren't half-bad.

* * *

"This vehicle has working auto-pilot, so it should easily bring you to your abode in little time and with no further surprises," Dexter explained as the Louds boarded a second hovership way better looking than the first one they had seen. "If any problem arises, it also has a long-range connection with my laboratory, so I will assist you if needs be."

"Well, thank you, Dexter, for all you've done. I wasn't sure what kind of guy you were before, but I can see you aren't a complete jerk…" Lincoln said from above the ship, the other Louds plus Clyde looking over.

Dexter decided to let him keep that thought. "It was, uhmm… nice, to meet you all as well, in a way. I am sorry for our past grievances, which I'm sure we've all left behind. Thank you for your assistance, and especially thanks to the two of you who helped while I was away from my laboratory."

Leni waved from behind, while Lisa simply nodded. The latter was actually in the former's arms, just like Lily was in Clyde's arms: Leni had insisted to do so despite Lisa protesting that she was fine and her sisters and brothers saying she didn't need to exert herself. And in the end, neither Lisa nor the rest of the Loud clan insisted that much.

"Bye-bye, friends!" DeeDee said, bouncing around Dexter. "I hope to see you soon!"

" _Not in my laboratory!"_ Dexter added right away. "In fact, I'm not the type for overly long farewells, so…  _out!"_

Before the Louds could say anything, Dexter snapped his fingers and the hovership started up, left the ground and floated away from them, heading for the same hole that Dexter had made while landing into his laboratory about two hours ago.  _'I'll have to fix that, among other things… looks like I've got more work to do today. Oh well…'_

He walked away, mentally counting what tasks he needed to get done while ignoring DeeDee, who had resumed her usual dance routine in his lab. However, Dexter's line of thought was stopped when he remembered one thing he had left unaccounted for. Quickly, he ran towards the nearest desk that was still in one piece, grabbed a notepad and a pen from his pocket and wrote down a few words he had kept in his mind for the last few hours.

_1216 Franklin Avenue, Royal Woods._

He had not told his sister, nor anyone else. Neither did he ask anyone about it. He had simply given a glance to the number sign on the front of the Loud House, checked the sign on the opposite side of the road and casually heard the sheep-headed boy talking with his friend about how his parents in Royal Woods were going to be worried.

He may have had an idea or two about paying them a second visit in the future… if anything, he was quite interested by the dynamic between the siblings, and that display of strength before had showed him that they could also accomplish results. Dexter looked behind for a moment to check a beaten down, half-asleep and tied up Mandark moaning to himself before shrugging.

He may also have found… no,  _equal_ was definitely not accurate.  _She_  was interesting fellow that maybe he could have a few high-level conversations with, one that did not try to make him miserable all the time… a term which weirdly included his sister and his rival both. A girl, of all things, one he could even—

"Ooooh, what is this? Is that the place where our friends live? You wrote it down, great!"

Dexter hastily whirled around. "No, DeeDee, that's an erroneous hypothesis. You don't—"

"Wait, you're as red as a tomato. What's going on… hang on, I know! I  _know!"_

Dexter already knew where this was going before DeeDee even said it.

' _Oh, no.'_

" _DEXTER HAS A GIRLFRIEND! DEXTER HAS A GIRLFRIEND!"_

* * *

The hovership took off in the sky, disappearing a mere ten seconds later behind the roof line of the Royal Woods' suburban area. The eleven Loud children, together with Clyde McBride, looked at the object for a few seconds before Clyde himself said his goodbyes after receiving their 'thank-you' for the help he gave in the commotion. Once Lincoln's friend was gone, the siblings started to walk away towards their house.

"Man… today was wild," Lynn commented.

"Yeah, I never would've thought I'd be fighting robots, two mad kids, travelling across the States twice all in the span of a few hours…" Lincoln said.

"Thankfully that's all finished right now," Lori said. "I literally could not stand that twerp anymore."

"He wasn't really that bad. He's just a bit bad in socializing, I think," Leni said.

"At least his sister wasn't like him… though a little too energic for my tastes," Lola said.

"I once tried making a bad joke on purpose while we were travelling there and she started laughing like I just hit comedy gold. She has a weird sense of humor, I say," Luan said.

"Poo-poo…" Lily muttered, looking sideways at Luan as if she knew there was something not working in her sentence.

"I don't know, sis, after all that's happened I think that those two do have a certain charm to them, you know?" Luna said.

"Not what I was expecting at first, but yeah, I've seen worse cases…" Lisa confirmed.

"So, all well that ends well, right?" Lana asked.

"I… don't think so," Lucy answered.

"Huh," Lana didn't know why Lucy would say so. "Why?"

The goth simply pointed at their house, which they had just reached… or at least, what remained of it.

The Louds had completely forgotten that their house had been almost destroyed by their previous war with Dexter and his makeshift robotic warriors. From outside, the house looked like it had just endured a bombardment, with windows broken and pieces of furniture lying on the yard, holes on various walls and so on.

What really made all of the Louds froze on their tracks, though, was the sight of their parents.

Lynn Sr. and Rita Loud were standing on the curb, looking with wide eyes at the house. As the Louds stopped walking, the two parents slowly turned their heads to look at them with incredulous faces.

"What in tarnation  _happened to our house?!"_ Lynn Sr. shouted.

At that point, there was only one thing left to say for the Loud siblings.

" _Dang it."_

**THE END**


End file.
